


TH Elvenking's Visitors

by VioletVision



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Humor, I Ship It, Jealous Thranduil, Misunderstandings, Not Canon Compliant, Romance, Shipping, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 17:18:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 60,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12237273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletVision/pseuds/VioletVision
Summary: Thranduil lost his wife years ago to war. After the death of the dragon, there is a group of humans who are causing problems. One sparks Thranduil's interest.  This is not a canon fic. Enjoy the hotness!





	1. Remembrance

**Author's Note:**

> I have read the Hobbit and there is no mention of a Queen during this time, so for my fic I am going with the idea that Legolas’ mother passed away. I am writing this after watching a trailer for the second Hobbit movie. I just can’t get enough of the Elvenking, so I had to make this up. This is not a Canon-Fic. This first chapter is mainly to give background information on Thranduil’s situation to lead into the story.

“Who is at the gate? I just parted with Gandalf, so I know it is not him.” Elvenking Thranduil inquired while he unpacked his weaponry from his quest to the Lonely Mountain. 

“No my King. It is a group of humans.” The dark haired elf bowed knowing it would not be received well. 

“Humans? I had not heard any news this morning that they had crossed into my woods.” Thranduil stopped cleaning his sword and eyed the bowing elf before him. “Why is that and what do they want?”

“My King, they say they have won a trip and are curious to tour our dwelling. And, I am sorry my King I do not know why the sentry did not see them. I will make inquiries.” He bowed even lower wanting to keep his head on his neck.

“Won a trip? Tour? So spies arrive at our gate. They traveled here undetected. And what? Knocked and asked to look around?” Thranduil picked up a gift he received from his son Legolas. It was a belt that allowed you to carry your sword on your side in a scabbard. He felt the silver material knowing it matched with his attire. 

He shook his head very minutely, tried on the belt and slid the sword home inside the scabbard. “Did Legolas send you in here?”

“No my King.” 

“Are you jesting?” He took a breath and adjusted the belt on his hips. It felt unusual to him to have something restraining about the waist, but he thought to himself that even Gandalf wore such a belt.

“Never my King.” He was practically on the floor he bowed so low.

“Escort them out of my realm…no wait. I need to understand how they got this far without being seen. Bring them in and show them to the throne room. Question them and see what you can find out then come back. Since they have been so forthcoming already, maybe they will tell who sent them and why then we can execute them and up the prices on trade with who sent them.”

Thranduil waited till he was alone and sat on his bed. It had been a long journey, and he had not even been back a day when other travelers show up. The last set caused a lot of problems for him. He leaned over putting his head in his hands speaking with hatred. “Dwarves.”

It had been a long time since he had taken a trip abroad and fought in skirmishes. It brought back the memories of her. The one whom his heart loved above all others. She was kind and wise, and as far as he was concerned near perfect. But he had lost his wife when she ventured outside of their camp to help wounded Dwarves. 

Thinking of it now, he stood and paced. He had went to war with his wife by his side because she insisted. He had won a great many battles with her counsel and wit. But she had a heart that was too big to be in battle he thought now. They had camped for the night, but she ventured into the woods farther on. He hadn’t noticed she left because he had been wounded and was being tended. 

Birds flocked into the camp chattering to him about his Elvenqueen hearing sounds in the woods and going to investigate. 

Even with a gash in his side where his organs had near spilled in battle, he stood to his feet and brandished his sword. The healers had barely sewn up his wound and were even then trying to stop him so they could enchant the wounds for a fast recovery. He waved them aside fearing for his love. 

He ventured into the unknown woods with hundreds of his men who volunteered to find her. His side ripped partially open and bleed as he climbed over fallen trees and ran as fast as he could go given the undergrowth. His face and hands were covered with scratches when more birds hovered telling what they knew.

He gasped in horror hearing that she had come across a group of Dwarves who were badly wounded and set upon by wolves. 

The Elvenking and his men made it to the location the birds told of and dispatched the remaining wolves. He stood among the dead wolves and peered into the gore seeking signs of his beloved. It took him a few moments before he spotted her golden hair that was half covered with blood. 

Thranduil’s heart shuddered to a stop and in that moment part of him died. 

He went to her and fell next to her unwrapping the wolf from her body. “No.” 

He wiped blood and mud from her face willing her eyes to open. “My love.” He could not feel her breathing or a pulse, and he knew she was gone. 

For thousands of years he had woke every day feeling gifted by her presence. He had children with her and loved her dearly so that every part of his life was wrapped up in her happiness. And now she was gone.

As his own blood spilled on the muddy ground mixing with hers, a rough voice sounded behind him in the gore. “She saved us.”

Thrandil’s bloodshot eyes turned to see Dwarves lying on the ground with severe wounds. He wanted to slice his sword over their throats for contributing to her death. He shook his head knowing that he was not being rational and if she were there he knew she would not approve. 

He found himself talking. “I would that you and your brethren died slow and agonizing deaths than for my love to even receive a cut on her hand. Go and die somewhere else. Your lives were purchased with too high a price.”

His eyes burned with unshed tears as the Dwarves bowed their heads. 

One risked speaking again. “She killed so many of them. I’ve been in many battles, but I’ve never seen a warrior with such courage and skill. We were already wounded when the wolves found us. There were twenty of us, but the time she found us there were seven. Six of us survived and it was because of her. We mourn with you and understand your loss is great. Could you tell us her name? We will sing songs of her courage.”

Thrandil continued to clutch her body knowing he would never see her smile again. He would never hear the lilt in her voice as she laughed at one of his silly tales he would tell to amuse her. He would never again kiss her lips or forehead. He would never again feel the joy of her company. She was gone. Taken. Killed while he lay having his body sewn back together. 

He felt that it was his responsibility to protect her and he hadn’t. “Her name shall not be spoken by me or anyone else. From this time forth. She was my Elvenqueen and that is all you may know of her.”

He continued to hold her as the Dwarves bowed their heads in respect, but he didn’t care. He had already deemed they were not worth the price she paid. He knew she would not see it that way and knew she believed if you could help someone in distress then it was worth almost any cost. He had always admired her for that, but now wished that he had discouraged it because she would be safe now.

His healers came to close him back up, but he pushed them away wanting one more moment with her. One more second. One more chance to pretend it was not real; she was only sleeping. 

For the first time in his thousands of years worth of life, he openly wept and cared not that he was being watched. His love was gone and his entire body shook with the horror of it.

When the healers gently took her from him, he wrapped every memory and thought he had concerning her and pushed it into the darkness. 

He allowed them to stitch back his open wound, and he did not feel the pain because the wound in his heart was so much worse. 

 

Now in his room years and years later, he pressed his hands hard against his head as he struggled against the emotional turmoil that flowed over him like great waves of the sea. Each one drowning him in sorrow. Each one bathing him in renewed grief.

A knock at his door brought him turning toward the sound. He swayed under the force of the tide that still brought images of her smiling face then bloodied throat into his troubled mind. “Enter.” 

“My King, your son Legolas sought you out in the throne room believing you were there. He left word that he was venturing to Rivendell to see Elrond about the borders that were negotiated. The humans stopped him with paper and writing utensils asking him for something called an autograph. They gave him the writing items and then asked him to put his name on them. Since they were blank pieces of paper with no contracts on them he signed, but put the symbol that it is not a binding contract of any kind. There were several they wanted signed and kept asking him about his clothing and bow then something called a movie. He managed to leave telling them he had urgent business. They were so happy and thanking him.” He paused watching his king secure his crown then shimmy his hips pulling on the belt as if he were checking it would stay in place. 

Thranduil took a long drink of Elven wine.

Since he did not comment, the servant continued his story. “One young red haired female held up her hands with a flat box. It made a click sound and flashed with light. She commented that he was hot. He assured her that he did not have a fever and she replied that she wished it. After talking to her for a few moments, his face started to flush. It is the most peculiar thing that anyone has memory of happening in Mirkwood for generations. We fear they are mad or touched by the gods.”

Thranduil felt dizzy as he suppressed his emotions and tried to keep up with his servants rambling. When he was sure that his face only expressed mild annoyance, he allowed himself to speak, but kept his voice low because he didn’t trust it yet. “Very well. Let’s go see these mad humans with flashing boxes.”


	2. Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a Canon-Fic.

Thranduil entered his throne room and saw ten humans questioning his guard and holding little boxes that flashed. He expected them to move forward and obsess about his every word and gesture. 

They did not. 

It made him wonder if they were unaware that their lives hung in the balance of his mercy especially since they appeared to be spies and had trespassed on his land.

He scrutinized their attire knowing that he had never seen humans or any other species wearing such items. He wondered if the runes in human tongue on their shirts were for protection. 

One shirt caught his attention as it had one figure of a human holding a large stick and the other had its head off. He stared at each individual letter at the top making out the words…How To Kill A Zombie. 

He didn’t know what a zombie was, but it looked most unpleasant. 

When he sat upon his chair, they turned to him almost in unison. He decided that was much better. “What reason do you have entering my woods and who sent you?” 

“Another actor.” A teenage boy walked forward.

“He’s in costume. Oh wow.” A red headed women in her early twenties opened her notebook and fumbled with a pen. 

He glanced over a long brown haired human female moving toward him. He guessed she was in her mid twenties. He noticed that she was very lovely and had piercing green eyes when she got close and spoke. “So there are more groups here than just us? Oh, I didn’t know that. Well, my name’s Alyssa Brown, and we were sent here by the production team for winning best original works based on the movies. We won the trip here to look around, and they are going to write an article about it. I did a drawing of your character that won first place. I just have to say it is an honor to meet you. I loved you in Pushing Daisies too. It took me a little to recognize you what with the blue contacts and blond hair. And, before in the other role, you were happy and smiling, but for this one you talk down to people and squint. Well, not squint, but you keep your eyes half open like you are looking down on everyone beneath you. Yes, just like that. Was it fun playing a character who could bring things back from the dead then switching to an elf king?”

Thranduil kept watching every move of her face and concluded that she believed herself to be telling the truth. He thought about his eyelids and opened them a little more. 

A group called Production Team sent them. They were selected by designing works of art. Strange. Pushing Daisies? My crown in the spring has flowers, but I don’t know how she could have seen me without me seeing her. I don’t recognize her at all. Bring back the dead? Is she insinuating that I was once a necromancer?

He decided to focus on the fact that she smiled and said she was honored. “I AM ElvenKing Thranduil, and it is right that you are honored to have an audience with me.”

She lowered her voice. “Oh, it’s not time for autographs yet. Yes, you’re in character. Um does that mean we are going to reenact a scene or something like that?”

Thranduil tipped his head looking over the group and she took it for a nod. “Ok. That would be great. There weren’t many women in the movie. I’ll just stand over here and pretend to be an elf guard.” She moved closer to the wall and stood by one of his guard.

The guard gave her an appraising glance of approval then returned to a stoic glair. 

It annoyed Thranduil that the guard acknowledged her attractiveness, and it vexed him that it annoyed him.

He was astounded that they put of their writing utensils and moved around the room like he wasn’t questioning them. The majority of the females pulled their hair back then squinted and glared at him in between giggling. 

The tallest man in the group with dark hair made an announcement. “Ok, I’ll be Thorin, but we need someone to be Bilbo. Hey Alyssa why don’t you be Bilbo. You’re skinny and have brown hair. Can someone act as the camera crew and vid this for everyone?”

“I’ll do it.” A slender man raised a hand and turned his cap on backwards. “I can’t get a signal on my cell, but when I get one I’ll YouTube it for y’all. I’m ready. Action.”

Thranduil still could not believe what he was watching and hearing. He saw expressions of shock hover on his guard’s faces to be swept away by a blank stare. He started to wonder if they were mocking him and throwing it in his face that Thorin had been there and escaped not too long ago. 

He was tired, emotionally drained and he had not drunk near enough to be putting up with mad humans who admitted they were here to look around then have it written down in something called an article. Spies.

“Where is this Production Team and what are their names?” Thranduil hoped they would continue to be forthcoming in their answers. 

The man with the flat box held up yelled. “Cut!”

Thranduil instantly went from the watching the one who screamed the single word to fix his eyes on the man in the group with the murderous rune shirt. He expected him to run forward with some type of weapon and slash at him. 

The red head spoke up. “I can’t get a signal either or I’d email you what they sent to me. It has names, addresses, locations and things like that. Do you have a hot spot or something where I can get a signal?”

Thranduil watched as each of the ten people pulled out little flat boxes and jabbed at them with their fingers. Everyone confirmed they did not have whatever a signal was. He assumed it must be some type of letter or symbol that would let them know who it was. “You don’t truly know who sent you?”

Alyssa leaned against the wall. “I’m sorry. It’s just not working. Do you have a land line? You could call your agent. Are we just in the wrong place? Were we supposed to be somewhere else right now or on another set?” 

“Land line?” Thranduil pictured Gandalf using his staff to draw a line down the middle of the room like he did once before releasing a truth spell so it would only work on a few beings. 

Truth spell. Have they been spelled with something and that is why they are being so forthcoming but confusing at the same time?

“Oh ok. Well, no one really has those anymore I guess. It just sucks in wooded places like this that are off the grid.” The self proclaimed Thorin responded.

Thranduil supposed he was talking about maps. “How did you enter Mirkwood without alerting the sentry?” 

The volunteer camera guy walked closer. “This creepy guy came into the studio and put us on a bus. A couple of hours later he got us out of the bus and we went for a walk beside a river. I just thought it was so awesome to get to see the constructed sets in real life that I didn’t care that he passed around this necklace and told each of us to say this password then press our finger to the symbol. I guess it was some kind of tradition on set, so I didn’t mind. You know that dude kind of looked like Gollum. Anyway, they activated this mist or something then when it was gone, we could see the path to the gates. It was so tremendous. Old school special effects. Guys in elf costumes surrounded us and brought us in. I got some of it recorded on my cell.”

Thranduil now fully believed they were sent to spy on him, to look around his dwellings and to report back to their leader where everything could be written down, but they had been spelled somehow causing them to forget stealth and speak openly. 

He had no idea what to do with them. 

The red head looked around the room. “If they didn’t tell you that we were here yet, we can just look around somewhere else till your ready.”

He had no intension of helping them with their mission. He nodded at a guard. “Take them to the cells.”

A burst of excitement radiated from the group. They got their little boxes out again. Thranduil decided that he would have one of them explain the strange devilry to him. “The boxes and any weapons stay here.”

“Oh man. A camera free zone?”

“We can’t get signal to text anyway.”

“I wonder if it is because they have spoiler pieces sitting around.”

Instead of giving the devices to one of his guard, they got in line and took turns putting their little boxes inside a display container that sat on an elaborately carved wooden table. The last one in line took off his belt that held a sword and set it on the top of the table.

Very strange, but obedient. 

When they had almost all left, he noticed the young woman called Alyssa stayed and turned toward him tipping her head to one side. 

Thranduil raised his chin. 

She spoke. “I hope it’s not stalkerish, but will you be here later when we come back? Legolas is nice and all, but I’m more interested in your character as the King. What motivates the King? What’s your back story? How do you view the complexity of your situation in the cast and the story? Things like that.”

Thranduil took several breaths and contemplated her words while he scrutinized the cast of himself that was on the other side of the chamber sitting by a column. 

Her mission is to learn personal things about me? Was she sent here to seduce me? That Production Team wants to know my weaknesses so they can exploit them and they send a human? 

“Yes, I will be here later and so shall you.” He fully intended to get more information from her.

She put her hands in her pockets and smiled so trusting that it bruised his heart making him think of his lost love. He mused that she looked nothing like her, but some of her expressions were the same. He thought maybe they did pick the perfect being to set in his way.

“Oh. I still have my cell phone.” She grinned even wider and turned to the table.

“You may give it to me.” He wanted to look at one of them and see how they worked.

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. The carefree expression changed into something darker. A light smile played over her lips and she tipped her head once as she approached. “Sorry. I read this fan fiction about you where you said something similar to that, but uhhh well you know how some of them are written. Do you ever read them? The romantic fanfics with you in it?”

“Writings about me?” 

She nodded and held out her phone. “Yes, the unofficial ones. Some ship you with the red haired guard then others put her with Legolas. You said for her not to give him hope, but I still didn’t think you were with her. I heard in the next movie or the one after that she might be with Kili maybe or even Elrond. I uuuh just didn’t think she would be your cup of tea. But then again I guess everyone wants to be shipped with the King. I’m sorry. That didn’t sound perverted at all. I don’t know how you deal with us. I even have you on my desk top.” She shook her head.

“I can assure you if you did have me on a desk top, I would know about it.” He realized what he had said and wished he had been quiet. It had been years beyond counting since he appreciated the presence of a young woman.

“You guys tag your wallpapers on the official site? They can check to see if contestants downloaded them? Oh I get it. It’s to make sure they were not just altering a photo to make it look like a painting or drawing. Some programs do that, but you’re right in that I didn’t do that. I make everything myself. I don’t trace outlines when I draw. It’s the real thing. Well, you.”

He had already extended his hand and was holding the other side of the box when she was half way done talking. She didn’t let go, so he just kept holding his end not knowing if that made the item work or not. When she talked, he tried to picture what she was saying. He saw himself standing in a Lorien boat holding a cup of new berry tea riding along with different people around him then touching her intimately while laying on a desk. 

He counted himself among the most intelligent of Elves, but he was having a very difficult time understanding what she meant. It had been a few thousand years since anything baffled him, and he wanted so very much to understand. There was a part of him that wanted to just ask her questions to see what combination of words she would say. 

He almost grinned thinking that if he just took each separate word and moved them around if it would make one coherent sentence and thought.

She flushed and let go of the black flat box that had a soft purple cover wrapped around it. 

He enjoyed the pinking of her cheeks not knowing what he did to cause it. “These fiction writings about me. Where are they?”

“I mostly read fanfiction, but there are communities with forums too.”

He stared at it seeing a faint reflection of himself, but nothing else. He whispered almost afraid of it. “Is it runed with magic?” 

“No, it’s not ruined with static. No the eye moving thing is turned off, and I don’t even know if that turns it on. But the eye thing got annoying. You look up and down for it to scroll. Just push the bottom on the top right then swipe and tap it. I know it’s old fashioned, but you have to touch it.” She glanced at his eyes and saw confusion. “Uhhh yea probably not the best of word choices…turn it on, tap it and touch it. I can’t help it. You kind ah make me nervous. I haven’t been around many famous people before.” She told herself to stop talking that she was making it worse. 

He was amused that her skin flushed a deep red when she talked about his presence causing her awareness of him.

His finger moved up and he felt the ridge. He pressed in and light flashed in his face. He held it back not knowing if it could harm him or not.

Swipe and tap? So I need to wave it from side to side then strike something with it?

“Here let me.” Since the phone was held out at her, she swiped her finger over the screen so he could click around. “Are your contacts bothering you?” 

Contacts…contact…touching? Is our touching bothering me? “Not at all.” There was no way he was going to admit it.

“I hope you guys have a gift shop online. I would really like a pair.”

Thranduil pictured a vender’s stall over a crack in the ground caused by an earthquake. He blinked a few times then pictured several valuable objects lined up for patrons to make selections. 

She would like a pair? “A pair of what?”

“Your contacts for Halloween, but I want the lighter ones that Orlando Bloom has. No offence cause yours are really nice too.” She gazed up into his eyes.

He watched her manipulating the devil box. Contact…touching a hollow Queen? She wants a lighter land of blooms? Flowers? Yes, she preferred my crown with flowers. Daisies and not the leaves I have on this one I’m wearing. Lights? The Lady of Light in Lorien? She doesn’t want to offend me because she prefers Galadriel’s lighter flowers then mine. But who is the hollow Queen and why does she want to touch her? Or maybe touch the box. I touched the box now she needs a Queen to touch the box for it to work. Galadriel could qualify as a queen even if she will not take the title. That’s why she called her hollow. She does not claim the title. Why does this have to be so complicated?

He watched as she tapped things with the tip of her finger and it flashed with colors and boxes. “See no internet service. Sorry. It won’t work, but ummm here’s the drawing I did of your character.”

My character…my personality…my appearance showing my personality? 

He stopped thinking and just admired the creation on the devil box. He was drawn to the detail and color of his eyes. Everything else slowly faded away to nothing the farther you got away from them. “You created this?”

She nodded and he saw that she was waiting to see if he approved. 

“It is a very good rendering of me, but I appear... It is a good creation.” He realized he almost said he looked forlorn. 

“Well, I better catch up with the others.” 

He listened to her words and watched an expression form on her face. It was identical to a memory hidden away in the darkest regions of his heart. It was a mixture of hope, desire and trust mixed together. It was the way his love appeared before she would kiss him and embrace. 

He felt awareness of her as a woman and it made him feel shame then anger. “Yes, you should.”

Her eyebrows came together for a moment at the sound of his harsh words then a mischievous smile replaced it as she stepped back. With a flourish of her hands, she bowed to him. “Very well my Elvenking.”

She closed her eyes for a moment as she lowered in supplication to him. 

Her wicked smile then mock abasement fueled his body. He knew he could move to her taking her in hand and press her against one of the columns to ruthlessly claim her mouth and throat. He could practically feel his hardened body pressing again her soft curvy one. He felt her hair running over his hands and chest as he lifted her to fit more perfectly against his battle hardened body.

He came back to himself knowing only a second had passed and he found his eyes watching her long whisky colored hair drape around her shoulders then his eyes darted to the gap where her shirt fell forward. 

He clenched his teeth feeling pain at not moving forward to touch her. He internally screamed at himself for this sudden loss of rational thinking. 

She straightened taking another step back to the side as if to leave then she paused. “Maybe I’ll draw one of your angry poses next time. You have a lot of intensity in your eyes that just begs to be drawn.” She swirled her finger round her face as she turned more to look at him then strode out with a guard following her.

Thranduil swallowed hard at hearing her say the word begs. He took a deep breath still feeling angry, but aroused at the same time and kind of dumb struck. 

After she left, he strode quickly to his goblet and pressed it to his lips. His hand shook, and he stopped. 

He set it back down without drinking. “I am in need of a clear mind with her underfoot. Begs. My eyes beg. I have never begged anyone for anything. Begs.” His voice deepened. “She will be the one that begs.”

He closed his eyes and he saw her there as well, so he opened them again wondering if she were to beg him…how many seconds would it take for him to give into whatever desire she had. The thought struck fear in his heart and that pissed him off even more.

He strode to the arch that she left under and watched her progress out of the massive chamber. She kept stopping to stare at the waterfalls and run her hands over the columns tracing the lines. 

He found himself wishing she was viewing him that way and touching his skin with the same reverent caress. He pondered over the words she spoke and did not truly know if he had guessed her meanings correctly. 

Did we have two completely different conversations or was I guessing correctly? And why do I care?

The anger won out and he quickly strode back to his table to guzzle down his strong wine. He filled it up and downed it again. “I am not going to have a human girl who is younger than my wine bewitch me even if she has a devil in a box of light.” 

He drew his arm back to throw her box to the side of the room where the others were sitting. Instead of launching it, he found himself walking over and gently placing it with the others. 

He blinked at his own betraying hand that drew back empty. “Liunil?”

An older male elf strode into the room a few moments later and walked up to him. “My King, are you well?”

“No, I am NOT! I feel like a clumsy youth of ten and I don’t even remember being ten. Do you understand me? Are there any conjuring on these items or on me?” He felt light headed and full of rage. 

“No, I mean yes I understand and no there are no conjuring that I can sense, my King. Maybe you might want to lie down and rest a while. You did have a difficult journey and dealt with the Dwa…others.”

He waved him away to begin pacing. After several minutes, he finally stopped. “Timilands!”

A black haired elf equal in age and stature the King ran up the platform and searched around for a foe.

“I require hunting gear. Lots of it.”

“My King?”

“I need to go into the woods and kill something. Do you hear and understand me? I do not wish to lie down. That would only make this worse. I want to kill.”

“Yes, my King. I believe there may be a few stray Orcs in the area.”

Thranduil strode away trying to forget her emerald eyes. “Perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He is so high and mighty that I could not help confusing him. I think his frustration is enticing.


	3. Woods

Alyssa strolled taking her time toward the cells. She had no idea that they made all the sets together and so elaborate. “What did that other assistant just tell you about me?”

Her Elven guards paused then one spoke. “Our King has added to his orders. We are to take you to the cells, but you will not be placed in one. He said to order you to stay with your people.”

She blinked at him trying to remember what she heard the other one say to him. She though she heard him say to give her the order and that she would obey just as she had to all of the other orders. 

What orders? Are they talking about a script? Oh that’s right I’m Bilbo, so I can’t go in the cells. Maybe the rumor about the water ride is correct. Perfect.

Alyssa strolled in. “Hey everyone. Remember you can’t see me because I’m Bilbo.” 

Several nodded. 

Alyssa looked at the guy who was going to play Thorin. She believed his name was Andrew. “Andrew right? Uhhh They didn’t give you guys anything to change into?”

Andrew shook his head and stopped inspecting the back all of his cell. “No. I hoped they would. Steve…camera guy. Can you get all of us in the shot from across there?”

“Yeah man I’ll work.” He held out his cell and started moving it from side to side. “Hey Bilbo, when I say action, whisper to Andrew then go off that way and find the barrels. Put your hand out and I’ll pass my cell to you, but don’t let the camera on it see the pass off. Just keep filming, but if they come up turn it off so they don’t catch you and take it.”

The red head spoke up. “This is so much fun and very authentic.”

Alyssa went to her cage. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember your name.”

“Krissy.” She smiled while knocking on the wall looking for any panels. “I think this really is rock. Oh what ya need?”

“Can you pull your hair back for a close up? You’re hair’s lovely, but it might get in the way. I want to hold the camera up and get a close up of you as I pass. Is that ok?”

“Oh yes. That’ll be great.”

Steve held up his hand. “Action.”

Alyssa whispered to Andrew pretending he was Thorin then crept past Steve, reached back taking the cell and pointed it at Krissy as she passed. She kept it pointed in front of her as she walked down the dark corridor. 

She came to a fork in the corridor. She remembered a drawing she saw of the underground dwelling and knew she had to go straight because to go left took her to another cell. When she came to a seating area, she knew she was going the right way and was in the cellar. 

She practically skipped to the end of the room and inspected the trap door believing there was a boat under it leading out the portcullis like some type of ride. 

She kept the phone in one hand and pried at the wooden doors in the floor. She struggled with the heavy door and slipped. She fell forward and flipped inside. 

Alyssa heard herself scream before she submerged in freezing water. 

She thrashed as she breathed water into her lungs. She felt herself fall again and knew she was in the river. She rolled under the water as the burning in her lungs warned her how dire her circumstances where. 

She thrashed trying to find something to grab onto. She managed to catch her hand on a branch and gain footing on a rock. She hoisted herself out of the water and fell onto her stomach spewing out river water and gasping for air. 

“Oh my god.” She spit out more water hearing her voice was more of a croak. She moved onto her side and continued coughing. 

Alyssa looked up noticing the sun was going down and thought that was crazy because it was closer to three or four pm. She lifted her upper body trying to sit up and slumped feeling the burning in her sinuses and chest. She had no idea how long she was in the water, but looked at it now as if it were still trying to get her.

She heard rustling in the trees farther in the wooded area. She sighed with relief thinking that they knew of her mishap and were coming to find her. “It’s ok! I’m over here. I’m alive.”

She felt embarrassed about what happened and stood up on shaky legs. “I’m over here.”

Between the trees in the distance, she saw movement. 

Her heart that had finally slowed was speeding up again. It was not rescue party. Her body went cold as if the water that was dripping down her skin froze into ice. “A wolf?”

She tried not to move and hoped it didn’t see or hear her. No such luck, it turned looking right at her and moved forward. 

It was a massive grayish brown wolf with deadly fangs, and it was walking toward her.

Alyssa turned and ran in the opposite direction following the river. She was unable to think as sheer terror took over. Her body moved swiftly due to morning runs all through college, but she was not fast enough to outrun the beast. 

She heard it getting closer. Snarling. Growling. Snapping its teeth. 

She ran as fast as she could push her body, and never looked back. She was running from death itself and it was closing on her. 

Alyssa found herself shrieking. “Help! Help me!”

 

Thranduil dispatched the last orc and wiped its vile blood off of his silver sword. “Last one.” 

Timilands strode up to him. “Did you get her out of your system?”

“Yes.” He blanched and turned to his old friend. “What do you mean by her?”

He bowed. “My King, you are the one who said yes.”

“Alright. I guess you are correct.” He put his sword in its scabbard. “I do not know why she bewitches me so. I look at her and listen to her uncomprehending half of what she says, but I find myself wanting to know more. Wanting to experience her. I do not know how to stop myself.”

He clasped the King’s arm. “You loved her dearly. You know of whom I speak. And do not chop my head off for mentioning it. Someone needs to say this.” He paused waiting to see if he would die. When he still breathed, he continued. “She would not want you alone and hurting. You feel guilt. Let it go. You drink till you can’t see straight. A King should not be that way. If this human interests you, allow yourself companionship. Stop punishing yourself. There I said it. Kill me if you will.” 

Thranduil’s anger deflated. “I do not know if I can.”

“Kill me? I am certain that would be easy for you.” He risked a smile. 

Thranduil lowered his eyelids contemplating his comrade. “I am not very sociable anymore am I? It is alright, but I am also not use to dealing with women either. I never know what goes on inside their minds. This one least of all.”

Both men turned at the same time. They heard running, growling and a scream for help.

Thranduil felt dizzy as memories flooded back. Wolves and his wife’s dead body. He blinked and it was gone.

He sprinted into the woods with Timilands headed straight for the screams. 

What he found was a wolf standing on a pile of large rocks snapping his snout between them trying to work its way down into the crevice. 

Thranduil ran forward and yelled out at the beast. It turned and lunged for him. 

He sliced its head off in one fluid stroke. He held still as the wolf’s head rolled across the gowned slinging blood. 

Fresh blood joined the partially dried orc blood on his attire. At the sound of a whimper from the rocks, he dropped his sword knowing that his friend would retrieve it. 

For a moment, he thought he had saved his wife, but the face that peered up at him was not the same from his memory. 

Green eyes stood out on a face that was as pale as death. He reached down for her, but she screamed and jerked back. 

“The wolf is dead. We need to leave before the pack shows up. Alyssa, can you hear me?” Thranduil watched her eyes dart over all of the blood on him. He inspected her seeing that she was drenched. “How did you get out here?”

“I’m Bilbo. I’m Bilbo. There was no ride. I fell in. I…I almost drown then that thing. It’s dead? You killed it?” 

“I killed it.” He saw her eyes darting around again as she hugged herself as best she could. He had no idea why she insisted she was the little Hobbit. But, he could tell she was freezing and shocked from the events. He pondered where she lived that she did not see death on a daily basis. “Give me your hand.”

She did and let him help her out. She huddled on the ground rubbing her ankle. “It almost had me. I climbed into the rocks.” Her wide eyes stared at the dead body. 

Thranduil watched as she held her breath and her eyes stopped blinking. She was visibly trembling as she drew her legs up to her chest hugging them. “It almost got me. I was almost chewed to death. No not chewed. Shredded. It wanted to rip me apart.”

Thranduil looked to his friend for help as to what he should do because Thranduil was mostly use to dealing with Elf soldiers not sheltered humans. When his comrade just shrugged, Thranduil took his shirt off and wrapped the warm material around her. “It is dirty, but mostly dry. I fear you are ill.”

He watched as Alyssa’s breathing returned to normal and she closed her eyes. 

“We need to depart.” 

 

Alyssa opened her eyes hoping it was all a hallucination brought on by almost drowning. She looked forward and saw the headless wolf again. It was the most revolting and horrific thing she had ever seen. “That looks real and it smells real. Did you really just kill some mutant wolf and save me?”

Thranduil held his hand out to her again. “Yes. Now take my hand.”

She inched her hand up and saw the thick material of the long sleeved shirt that was wrapped around her. Her eyes went wide again seeing the blood. She threw it off behind her then fell forward. She lifted her head to see that she was now closer to the dead beast. 

She pushed back getting to her feet, and tried to control herself. She turned and slammed straight into Thranduil’s bare chest. Her hands came up making contact with ridges of muscle. 

She pushed back, but he grabbed her arms holding her in place. 

Alyssa still felt fear and panic, but she stopped trying to pull away. He was warm and her mind kept telling her that he saved her. If it wasn’t for him, she would be dead.

Thranduil turned his face toward the other Elf. “Your shirt is clean. Give it to me for her. She is very cold. Painfully so. I believe she is ill. Do we have anyone who knows of human illnesses?”

Timilands shook his head. “No, and it is getting dark.”

“Then when she is safe inside the mountain, send for someone who does now. Send for two.”

“I believe Lorien has a healer who has dealt with humans before.”

“Very well, then send for the healer straight away upon our return.” Thranduil felt better knowing that she would be looked over. 

“This can’t be.” Alyssa lifted her hand up to his ear. She traced the edge along the point then down. She couldn’t feel a difference in texture. She even scratched with her nails trying to peal the prosthetic ear tips off. “These aren’t fake, and I don’t see contacts in your eyes.” She griped his hair at the roots and pulled. She pulled three times and parted his hair continuing to apply pressure. 

Thranduil just stared at her showing no signs of pain.

“My god. You…you really are an Elf?” She spoke then watched him nod at her. She felt as if she had not just fallen into coldwater, but that she fell into Alice’s rabbit hole. “You’re an actual Elvenking and I just played with your hair like a primate digging for fleas. That’s really some mutant wolf and we were inside a real mountain palace thing.” 

“No need to worship me as a god, but Thranduil will suffice. We need to leave. Are you able to walk or shall I carry you?” In the dimming light of the sunset, she mused his hair still shone like liquid gold. 

“Carry me?” She had no idea why a real live Elf King would even talk to a human let alone carry one. She thought she should just be thankful that he didn’t just let her die. 

She felt herself lifted into the air by strong arms. 

She grabbed onto him when he took off in a smooth steady run. His arms tightened, so that she didn’t jostle around. She could still feel every point of contact where her body moved against his even with the new shirt on. She was still debating back and forth if this was real, but she continued to hold onto him just in case. 

When they reached the gate, she expected him to put her down, but he strode right in with Elves watching him. 

“This one got out. Make sure there are no more getting out.” His voice was sharp and cutting. 

She felt her eyes filling with tears. “You’re not going to leave them in those cells are you?”

The haughty expression on his face hardened as if he became angry.

Alyssa realized yet again that she was talking to a King. He was not an elected politician, but a King. He was a man of absolute power. His every whim obeyed as he held the power of life and death over those on his land. 

He ruled the land and what he said was law. There were no appeals. There were no police and judges. No attorneys to call for guidance and help. No news media was going to cover the incident and report if it was fair or not. She was in Middle Earth and at the mercy of an Elvenking who was not known for dealing kindly to intruders. 

He peered down at her and she saw coldness in his blue eyes. Complete absence of compassion. Devoid of empathy. She never knew what the words ‘terrible beauty’ truly meant before this moment. 

She took a deep breath truly believing he was going to drop her on the floor then chop her head off like he did with the wolf. 

“Please.” Her mouth hung open to speak, but no further words came out even though her lips moved like she was trying to form another word. 

His eyes glazed over and his voice became a whisper. “She looked like that the day she found a young hart tangled in a briar patch.” His head tipped to the side as if he were seeing it again. “She wanted me to help it. I shredded my arms getting that thing out of there alive.” Be blinked a few times, and his eyes came back into focus. 

He spoke louder where his men could hear. “Put them in one of the guest rooms, but make sure it is secured and guarded. When the healer gets here, send him to my chamber.”

Alyssa took in a shuddering breath. “Thank you.” She was thanking him for not killing her, but she didn’t dare voice that because his expression was not so severe now.

He started walking and whispered to her again. “You should not thank me. You should be thanking her.”

“Who?” Alyssa very minutely moved a finger feeling the silken perfection of his hair as she wondered if Elves could be bipolar and if she may have cracked and lost her mind. Another thought occurred to her…what if she had been in a car accident and was really dreaming in a coma?

Thranduil quickly strode up steps and shook his head no determined not to speak her name aloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, that went a little different than what I planned. But I think that works.


	4. Chamber

Alyssa felt her consciousness returning. She was aware she was lying in a bed with soft blankets around her face. She kept her eyes closed and stretched her legs noticing that her ankle hurt somewhat. 

She felt a tug at the end of one of the blankets. “Leave me alone boy. Go play. I want to sleep.”

A bump into the mattress lightly shook her. “Ok, Sammy. Fine. I’ll take you for a walk. I was having his horrible dream anyway. There was this killer wolf and a bloody Elf King that…” Her eyes slightly parted as she pulled the blankets down noticing that they were not hers. 

“Who is this Sammy?” A man’s voice spoke slowly. And the smooth yet irritated voice made her think of dark dungeons with hidden rooms where you would not want to find yourself. 

Alyssa jerked to the side half sitting up and pulled the blankets up a few inches. 

It was the Elvenking Thranduil, and he was glaring at her with steely blue eyes and the slightest ridge between his brows. 

She couldn’t speak or even find the knowledge of how to open her mouth. Even her lungs stopped functioning. Her eyes fixed on his as if he possessed the power to hypnotize her against her will. Her eyes started to burn, so she blinked once feeling her body tremble then she took a breath. 

He’s an elf. He’s not an actor, but a ruler…in Middle Earth. I really am in… “Mirkwood.”

She watched as the anger drained from his face. 

He tipped his head to the side and inspected her face as if he was a scientist and he found a new species to catalogue. He sat next to her on his bed that was covered with silver sheets and a silvery gold blanket. He reached out his hand toward her then drew it back. “Do you feel feverish?” His eyes went over the visible parts of her body.

Alyssa felt warmth spread over her body, and she didn’t know if it was fear or excitement. In all of her wildest dreams, she never one truly believed that Elves were real let alone that she would actually see one. But to talk to one and not just any Elf but for it to be the all commanding Thranduil who was even more attractive than she ever thought…She couldn’t help, but be in awe of him. “Yes.” She knew that she was indicating that he made her flush and feel passionate because he was near, but she couldn’t help herself. 

Thranduil felt worry that his fears were correct and she was ill. He wasn’t sure what to do to help her and everything over the last few hours while she slept had aggravated him. 

Now that she was awake and the healer was not there, his frustration climbed up his body like a vine. He couldn’t even stand the slight pressure of his crown on his head, so he took it off and set it on the table next to his bed. 

“May I touch you?” Thranduil saw the flush of her skin and wanted to see how warm she was. He thought if she was very warm then he was going to order cool water to be brought in for her to bath in. But he wasn’t sure if that would help enough to keep her comfortable and away from death’s door.

Alyssa couldn’t comprehend what was happening. He took off his crown and wants to know if I’m feverish and if he can… “touch me.” She sat up straighter noticing that she said the last two words of her statement out loud.

Her heart sped up as his hand reached for her and settled on the side of her face. His fingers inched up touching her forehead then lowered feeling her neck. “What…what are you doing?” Her jerky breaths increased when the palm of his hand brushed her collarbone as he continued to look her over.

“Trying to decide if you are hot. Part of you may be.” He believed she was definitely warm and he traced his hand over all of the red areas not able to determine if he did in fact have a fever. 

He had heard before that Elven cures for ailments sometimes killed humans. So he was trying to collect any information he could because he knew he couldn’t do much else. He had heard before that humans die from sicknesses brought on by not being clothed properly or from catching from each other or animals.

“If I’m hot?” Alyssa felt the stirring of temper from the insult when she understood he found her lacking. 

She told herself that she knew almost nothing about the real interworking of an Elven kingdom and what their customs were. So, she tried to remain calm reminding herself she didn’t want him angry again.

“Yes, you are human, so I cannot tell. I have not been around many of you to know.” He leaned closer looking into her eyes checking if they looked bloodshot. “I do not know what to look for to know if you are alright. Your eyes do not look that good and neither does your skin color.” He noticed that she was still pale compared to what he remembered from his throne room and that her eyes were showing signs of redness from being bloodshot. 

“Well, most guys look for tits and ass, but I have to give you credit for looking at my eyes and checking out my neck first. Even if you don’t like them. Now, you can stop patting me down. If you haven’t decided by now, then that means no. No, I’m not hot.” She realized as the words were coming out that she sounded angry and that she felt let down. She always pretended with her friends online that if one of them ever met an Elf or sexy Dwarf that the men would be completely drawn to their beauty. Watching him pick over her like she was a broken down pony at a horse sale, did nothing for her mood or her headache. 

He leaned closer and she moved back. His hand was touching her face again as he spoke. “No. I may have over reacted to begin with. You are right. You are not hot. At least I do not need you to strip and bathe.” He felt relief that she was not feverish enough to need to soak in cool water especially since he was not sure if it would have really helped her. He pondered that it could have made her worse because she was cold when she started to get sick, so maybe he needed to make her warmer. “Maybe we can make you hotter.”

Alyssa smacked his hand away from her, but caught herself before she shoved him off the bed. “I’m not stripping on some pole for you and cleaning myself for what? To present myself to you? Make me hotter? From the way you just talked, you could drape golden cloth over my face and wrap me in gold and it would not make any difference. It wouldn’t make me any hotter. I’m not going to doll myself up. So let’s just go with I’m not hot.”

He thought her words were strange again, but he believed that she was just confirming what he said that she was not ill enough to try using cool water as a cure. “No. You are not.”

The arrogance of his words struck her. He acted as if he wished her to perform for him and bath for his watching pleasure that she would have done it, but he decided she was not hot enough for him after all. “Why are you still looking at me? And why are you even still here?”

He raised an eyebrow. “There could be something else wrong with you, and if so then I want to know what it is. And, I am here because this is my sleeping chamber.”

She felt furious that he was now inspecting her for flaws, but the last part baffled her. She was confused, tired, hungry and now she found out she had been sleeping in his bed. That image struck her.

She moved her foot thinking that these were his sheets his body slid against while he slept. Does he sleep naked? 

She pictured him taking off his silver robe and sliding off the remainder of his attire. Every inch of muscular skin exposed. Every flexed muscle in view for her to see. His long golden hair flowing over his shoulders then skimming over her body as he covered her for a slow languid kiss while he watched her with those intense sapphire eyes. The brush of skin. The heat of arousal. The strength of his arms as he tips over the edge from a slow seduction to a feverish need for more. His body commanding more from her that she was all too willing to give. 

She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side. It only made it worse because then she was more aware of his movements on the mattress and the warmth of his body where he was so close to her hip and leg. She gave up and opened her eyes and they moved of their own volition to him. The most intoxicating being of all Middle Earth. Power. Strength. Skill in battle. Sharp intelligence. Thousands of years old having experienced things far beyond her comprehension. The King. A being of legend.

Her desire and fluttering eyelashes fueled her anger with him. She was angry at him for acting like she was a horse for sale. She corrected herself…a broken down pony. She pictured him checking her teeth next, but her mind shifted to picturing him shirtless gain and inspecting her mouth with his probing tongue. She wondered what else thousands of years made you skilled at and practically huffed out angry air at him. 

She had to slow her heart before it jumped out of her chest and ran around the room. She guessed he would complain about that too. Several deep breaths only resulted in making her dizzy.

Her mind and body were reacting two very different ways to him, and it was maddening. She wanted to touch him again and wanted him touching her. On top of that, he kept insulting her, but wouldn’t leave her alone. She wanted to wrap her arms around him to pull him to her for a kiss and she wanted to slap him for his audacity. 

“You are worse now than when I came in.” He felt panic because it seemed she was having problems breathing and her movements appeared agitated. He would have cut off his sword arm at this point if he thought it might help her. 

“Insults? Are you trying to torture me? If you are, then it’s working.” Alyssa rubbed her temples feeling like she longed to stay in his bed with him joining her, but she wanted to smack him with his blankets and storm out. 

“What is wrong?” Thranduil gripped her bicep and pulled her arm back. He wondered if she had hit her head in the rocks and had some type of internal bleeding he could not see. He wanted to look at her ears to check for bleeding.

Alyssa didn’t have time to answer as his door was flung open hitting the wall with a thump. She recognized Tauriel from a movie trailer she had watched. 

Tauriel was speaking in Elvish, and Alyssa had no clue what he was talking about. So she sat still, watched her movements and guessed. 

“What are you doing with the human?” Tauriel spoke in Elven and pointed to Alyssa. 

Thranduil let go of Alyssa’s arm and went to Tauriel. “She is ill. She might be feverish, but I am not sure. She is losing track of what I speak of and becoming agitated.”

Tauriel looked her over and put her hands on her hips. “She is ill and you brought her in here? Into your room? This is not proper procedure, so what is happening? I am the head of your guard and need to know what is happening especially when the sanctity of our dwelling has been breached. They said you strode in with her and you were half naked. How did she get outside? Have you asked her?” Tauriel paced back and forth.

Alyssa watched as the beautiful red haired elf guard strode around asking what sounded like questions and pointing at her and the room. She feared now that the both of them were a couple and she had just showed up to find a human woman in their bed. She remembered people telling her that Tauriel was an excellent killer, and she watched more closely knowing that the shield of his blanket would not protect her against the elf. 

Thranduil waved a hand. “Are your ears working? I told you she is ill, and not making much sense. When she feels better and a healer has seen her, I will ask her how she appeared outside.”

Tauriel tapped her foot. “That still doesn’t explain the half naked part. You ordered us not to seek outside relationships with other kinds because you said outside the dwelling it is a distraction that can get us killed. And with respect, you are doing just that. Frolicking with a human.”

Thranduil’s anger flared and he moved forward backing her into the wall. “Never speak to me this way again. I favor you, but you just went too far. I was not frolicking. I was killing wolves that were near our river, which your guards are supposed to make sure doesn’t happen. What if a pack of dozens showed up? What if she died?” His voice floated off on the last word and his eyes went to the side glazing over.

Tauriel bowed as best she could. “Please have mercy my King. I did go too far. I have been told my young age of sixty leaves me impulsive, but it is what makes me good at my duties. I did not know you were in here. I was only told that one of the humans was in your lodging, so I came to investigate. It appears my duty should be else ware.” She kept her eyes averted knowing why he was so strongly troubled. She had heard how the Queen had died. 

He glared back at her. “Then remove yourself from my sight and see to your duties.”

Alyssa watched Tauriel and Thranduil argue not knowing what was happening, but she felt some relief when Tauriel left. 

There was only one problem with that. It meant she was alone with the King again. 

He slowly strode back to the side of his bed. 

Alyssa felt silly for hiding under the covers and wondered if she should get up or leave.

He spoke a few words in Elvish then pointed to the other side of the room. He forgot to switch back to a language she could understand and had offered her a drink of water and nourishment.

She thought he was telling her to leave, so she tossed back the blanket on the opposite side of him and moved to slide out. 

“No. You should remain where you are till they get here. I want them to inspect you first.” He didn’t want her over exerting herself before the healer or healers arrived.

Alyssa froze where she was. She had no idea why he would want her staying in his bed and why he was asking others to come see her. Then it clicked. He was selling her. That was why he was so concerned about her appearance and thought of having her take a bath. He had been inspecting her, but showed he had no interest in her himself and at the same time kept her in a bed. She feared that a potential owner or owners were on their way to try her out. 

“No. I don’t want to be inspected.” She kept shaking her head no. “I don’t want anyone looking at me or touching me.”

Thranduil knew that healers had to touch and look in order to cure. And because she was not fully coherent most of the time, he saw it as his own personal duty to make sure she as cured. He now knew she did not want healers, and he wanted her to have what she wanted, but he very much wanted her alive and healthy. “It is not for you to say at this point. They are on their way even now and you will wait there for them.” 

Alyssa started rocking back and forth knowing that even if she jumped out of the bed and threw a fit, he was much stronger and no one in the realm was on her side. Her fellow travelers were, but they were locked up in a room somewhere. The thought of strange men pawing at her frightened her. 

She had never been in a situation where a man even attempted to cross over the line of trust. She had a few boyfriends that she had been intimate with, but everything was always consensual. She thought if she was being sold as property then it meant her owner could probably do whatever they wanted with her and she had no say whatsoever. They could kill her or even tire of her and sell her to someone else. 

Her panic stopped when she remembered that Thranduil had heeded her plea to take her companions out of the cells. She thought over the fact that he should have laughed at her and tossed her on the ground for the impudence because he was the ruler. He didn’t. Somewhere inside of him there was a place that cared. She guessed something horrible must have happened to him in the past to cause his empathy to dwindle and wondered if it had anything to do with the woman he mentioned had asked him to save a baby dear. 

She pondered that if she could just stay around him then she would be saved the fate of being a slave and passed around from man to man or woman for all she knew. 

She dropped the blanket she was using as a shield. There was only one thing she could think of that she could do that would save her. It was something that at least half of her wanted desperately anyway. Even though he thought of her as a broken down pony with flaws that kept getting worse, she determined it was the best and only course of action left to her.

She was going to seduce the Elvenking and probably die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok a little hotness. Heheheee I had to cause mayhem with the word hot. I just had too. And I have to say that I loved writing this chapter. The angst, the misunderstandings and the hotness…oh so worth it. What do you think?


	5. Understanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thrandy is even more complex and wounded than I could have possibly hoped. He holds himself in and only his anger escapes. But I want to explore when other things find a way out. It is the middle of the night, so please overlook this dyslexic writer’s grammar. I went over it a couple times, but that usually does not mean much. Oh well.

Alyssa gripped the edge of the silver sheet and blanket in her lap and wondered what would tempt the Elvenking. He had already commented that her looks were lacking, so she thought stripping off her shirt was out. It never mentioned in the Hobbit book or first movie what he prefers in women. The Lord of the Rings movies didn’t really show romantic interactions with elves other than Aragorn and Arwen. In them, he was very delicate with her, but then again she was a gorgeous other worldly elf. The Mirkwood elves seemed to be more aggressive than the Rivendell ones, so she determined she was going in blind. 

He pulled his robe apart and reached into his pants to pull something out of his pocket. 

Alyssa jerked as two cell phone landed next to her. 

“I’m not sure which one of these is ours.”

She picked them up knowing her own instantly. “This one.”

He stood up and paced around. “I need to take care of a few things and will be back within a half hour. Remain here and rest if you can.” He waved his hand to the table at the side of the bed. “Eat and drink your fill. I will give orders that none shall disturb you.”

She opened her mouth then closed it knowing that her speech was not as melodious as Tauriel. She pictured the lovely Elfmaiden warrior with her flaming hair and perfectly smooth and flawless skin. 

He watched as she ran her hand over her exposed forearm.

She knew that her own skin was not the perfection that the King was use to. 

Alyssa broke contact with his sapphire eyes to look at her hand that now clenched her wrist. She wondered how repulsive she appeared to him because he had better than human vision and could easily see the blood vessels under her skin…the imperfections…the blemishes. 

She inched her hand back rolling her arm to inspect a couple of purple bruises and a little scratch she received from climbing down into the rocks. 

She spoke without thinking about the way her voice sounded, but only thought that her current goal was pointless. “I’m a mess.”

Thranduil moved back to her then leaned forward seeing the bruises and desperately wished he had gotten to her before the wolf had cornered her in the rocks. He felt ashamed of himself even knowing there was no way he could have gotten there faster. Deep inside he knew his regret about his lost love was crowding his mind. 

His voice dropped to a whisper. “Yes, but not as bad as you could have been. No further harm shall come to you.” 

Her eyes lifted to his to see the light sparkling in his eyes that shone like diamonds in the sun darken to the deepest blue of the depths of the ocean. 

Alyssa registered that his words spoke of protection, but she could see and feel that some inner pain was ripping him apart from the inside. Her hand reached out and rested on his. Forgotten were her fears that he was selling her as a slave. Gone were her worries about what he thought of her as a woman and the insults from earlier. 

The coolness of his skin worried her even more, and she felt as if he was in as much danger in this moment as she herself was hiding in the rocks from the wolf that wanted to shred her to small pieces of meat. 

She knew the dangers of holding things inside till they destroyed you. She had watched a friend a couple of years ago almost succeed in committing suicide because he bottled things up and pretended that everything was alright. 

Her voice came out in a whisper that matched his. “You need to talk about it.” She paused and remembered his story about the baby dear. “You need to talk about her.”

Alyssa kept a firm grip on his hand as his body shook as if the pain was pushing out to the surface but his mouth held it inside like a volcano quaking with the need to release pressure. 

Because he didn’t storm out or start yelling, she tried again. “Tell me a happy memory.” She remained silent for a few moments wondering if he would speak.

“Sometimes.” His whispered voice came out as his shoulders and face relaxed. “We would go exploring in the trees. We would run in them lunging from one to another. Laughing and racing. One time she beat me to the top of the mountain just as the sun was setting. I did not know but earlier she had hidden a box in the trees.” His eyes lifted to a table near the door where an elaborately carved box sat. “It was the anniversary of when we first met. I opened the box to find two broaches. One for her and one for me.” 

Thranduil’s other hand lifted and pressed to the unusual broach on his chest. “She put the broach on me and then put the other on. We then watched the light and colors fade while she told me after her death there would be another to share my heart and I was to give her the broach. She had the gift of sight similar to the Lady of Light and it filled me with guilt to know that she foresaw what I considered my betrayal. I told her that if she departed before me that I would never even consider another. She smiled. Patted my hand.” Thranduil peered down to where Alyssa’s hand touched his.

Alyssa instantly held her hand still as a sense of foreboding ran up her spine.

“Then she told me that she didn’t want me lost in despair like the darkness that was covering the forest we were sitting in. Her eyes lifted to the stars and she said even in darkness there is light if you look for it. After that, I watched her closely, but I failed her.” His hand lowered to his abdomen. “I was being sewn back together on the battlefield when she saved a group of wounded Dwarves from wolfs as you call them. She saved them but she died before I could get to her.” The tension in his shoulders and face returned as he stared at the box. “I had to pry the broach out of the teeth of a dead wolf and it has remained locked in there ever since. That may not be a happy memory, but it is the one that haunts my dreams these past couple thousands of years. It haunts me more than the memories of dragon flame.”

Alyssa felt the warmth back in his hand and saw the coolness in his eyes return with the light. She knew he was closed off again. His perfect mask of indifference was in place. His empathy and more tender emotions locked away as tightly as the wooden box. 

She pulled her hand back marveling at his capacity to love that stood the test of thousands of years. Sorrow took the place of foreboding knowing that locked inside of him his guilt was being as destructive as any wolf’s fangs. 

She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how to make it better. She wasn’t sure anything could.

He abruptly stood and strode toward the wooden door. “I shall return.”

Alyssa stared at the door and heard him leave the living chamber. “Stupid. Stupid.” She berated herself for depressing him instead of seducing him. She picked at the food and sipped the water hoping that he would come back soon. 

After a few minutes, she picked up the other cell phone and turned it on. From the photo on the home screen she knew it was the red head’s. She instantly clicked a file called Hobbit 2. 

“Oh my gawd.” Alyssa’s eyes widened as she watched the opening scene of the Desolation of Smaug. She skipped forward to where Thranduil lounged on his throne pretending not to know why Thorin was in his forest. Her heart sped up as she watched the interaction. Thranduil offered to let him go then Thorin unleashed his anger at Thranduil for letting his people starve. 

Alyssa pressed a hand over her heart at the despair on Thranduil’s face when Thorin said his people came to him starving and homeless. She held the cell closer thinking that he was about to cry. She paused it and thought about how he didn’t seem so emotional in the first Hobbit movie when Thorin yelled to him for help and he left. “He hides his emotions, but Thorin’s words made him show them.”

She took a breath then glanced to the door and pressed play again. She then saw his emotions turn to anger when the dragon was mentioned. His fury lashed out at Thorin speaking of knowing dragon wrath and ruin. She hung on his every word. “I have faced the great serpents of the North.”

Alyssa gasped and had it play that part back over and over. “His face? What’s happening to his face?” She played it back again. “He’s in pain and his face decays like…like…like his face was melted off by…dragon fire. Wait. Ok. He faced dragons before. Ok. He was wounded and let his face transform back using magic to let Thorin see or is he still wounded and uses magic to hide it? Oh my gawd.” She played the scene from start to finish again.

“I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon.” Thranduil intoned. “But he wouldn’t listen. You are just like him.” She watched as Thranduil waved his hand in the air. “Stay here if you will and rot. A hundred years is a mere blink in the life of an Elf. I’m patient. I can wait.”

Alyssa set the cell down. She told herself that she had to calm down. She tried to piece together what it all meant. 

“So he said his wife’s death haunts him more than dragon flame. So dragons are like his nemesis. The one thing that terrorizes him like spiders do to me. He said he faced them...serpents. Means more than one. Did he fight them? Facing something usually means confronting it. Is that how he got hurt? Ok most likely. So Throin showing up being a Dwarf makes him remember his dead wife and then Thorin talks about how bad his people had it and Thranduil knows that will probably wake up a dragon that is not really that far away. Both of his nightmares pushed into his face at the same time.” 

She glanced around at the empty room surprised he didn’t just kill the Dwarves. She guessed he was controlling himself. She thought of his sad expression and thought he might have been thinking about his people in the North meeting the rage of a dragon. 

“But still. What’s up with his face?” She picked up the cell hoping it would mention it again in the movie. 

She played a few parts and skipped forward to where an Orc was kneeling. 

“What?” She replayed the part where Thranduil walked from behind it to in front of it a few times. 

She shook her head and told herself she would only watch it one more time. “Seriously, of all places for the handle of his sword to be sticking out. And it looks like his hand strokes it as he walks. It looks like…well.” She let herself linger over his walking image knowing the next time she saw him that it would be stuck in her mind. 

She played it two more times with the volume off so the sound would not distract her. She giggled noticing that when he walked around Legolas that the sword bobbed around thrusting forward. She put her hand over her mouth glancing at the door and finally let it play the rest of the scene.

The Orc’s head was chopped off. “Oh that’s hot. He’s great with his sword.” She paused and thought about the scene from earlier with the handle sticking out. Oh my. Wait.” She played it back and listened to what they said this time.

“You have nothing to fear. Tell us what you know and I will set you free.” Thranduil promised. 

Legolas and the Orc spoke. 

The Orc commented that their world would burn, that death is upon them and the flames of war were upon them. 

Thranduil chopped his head off and Legolas called him on not keeping his promise. Thranduil said that he did free his head from his shoulders making it out like he did keep his promise.

Alyssa watched Thranduil walk away and her eyes trailed on his long blond hair. “He’s manipulative to get what he wants. Well, he is a king. A deadly king. Thorin said he could not trust his word and it appears that the Orc should not have trusted it. He kept up his bargain with the Orc but didn’t let the Orc know what he meant by it or when the Orc talked about fire he lost his temper.”

She glanced around the chamber. No fire in the fireplace and no candles. She squinted at the glowing orbs and knew they were not glowing from flame. “The Orc knew to taunt him with fire. The Orc was throwing it in his face…the wound on his face…Dragon flame.” 

She watched more knowing he would be back soon. After watching the ending and cussing a few times because it ended where it did, she thought about how there was some kind of magic that made the necromancer’s dwelling appear different than it was. She wondered if Thranduil used a similar magic to make himself look healed or to make himself appear wounded again for Thorin’s sake. “Which is it?”

She put both cells on the table by the food and nibbled on bread thinking about what she had learned about Thranduil. “He lies. No. He tells the truth to you in a way that you would want to hear it and does it in such a way that he gets what he wants. Told the Orc he would set him free for giving info then chops his head free. He tells Thorin that he would let him go so that he could get his stone and then give Thranduil his gems. What was his plan? What were the negative things he was not telling him and Thorin knew it?”

She set the bread down. “Then what does he want from me? He said my friends were moved out of the cells and put in a guest room or something. Did he then have them killed? Wait. He mentioned her and the baby dear. Was that more manipulation?” She shook her head not thinking so. She thought maybe he was going to do something like that then changed his mind and has been dealing straight with her. 

She lay back on the bed wondering what he could possibly want from her. Information? She thought he would have done something similar to what he did to the Orc. Did he want her to do something? He didn’t make any bargains with her like he tried with Thorin. 

She was stumped.

Alyssa closed her eyes and thought of how he insulted her. “Telling the truth, but not in the way I would want to hear. Or maybe he wants me to know how horrible I am so I can be thankful to him. But why? What gain is there for him? I have nothing and I know nothing.”

She tipped her head feeling a little crazy because she was talking to herself, but told herself it was ok because it was crazy to find yourself in the Elvenking’s bed. “No, that’s not true what I said. I know his future. Does he know I know something? Is that why he saved me? He wants information.” 

She shook her head then thought of the cell phone. He didn’t know how to work it, so maybe he needed her to show him how to work it. She remembered telling him that things were written down about him and he was curious about it.

She thought that if he told him things about the future then it could change and the good guys could lose. She rubbed at her face knowing that earlier she had almost been seduced by him even with him insulting her. What would she do if he actually put effort into it?

“The end of the world.”

“I certainly hope not.” Thranduil stood at the door.

She inched her hands apart noticing that his hand rested on his silver sword handle. Heat flushed her face and spread down her neck to leave a bright blotchy red area on her neck and chest. 

He watched her as he slid his hand over the metal of his sword.

Alyssa told herself to stop watching his wicked hand and to confront him. “What do you want from me?” 

“What do you think I want from you?” Thranduil gripped his sword with one hand to stop himself from reaching forward to feel the reddened areas of her skin. He knew he had already done everything he could and had sent birds out that returned saying the healers were very close. He sent word for them to make all haste else they would be met with his wrath. 

“Don’t play with me. You play with people. You tell them the parts of the truth they want to hear so they will do what you want. So just tell me what you want.” She waved a hand to the side then rolled it in front of her like she wanted him to talk. 

“I want you well.” He answered the first thing that came to his mind. It was easy because it had become his obsession even thought it angered him.

“See there you go. Yes you want me well. You saved me from the mutant wolf. But why do you want me well? What do you want from me that I need to be well to do?” She folded her arms. 

He honestly didn’t know an answer to the question. He was the king and should not even be talking to her, she should not even be in his rooms and a dalliance with her was out of the question. He asked himself knowing all that…what did he want and what did he expect would happen? 

Thranduil’s anger spiked. His words came out in a rush. “I do not know how to answer that. What do I want? What I want does not matter. I am king. I am to keep my people safe. I am to make decisions that could cause their deaths if I make a wrong choice. I am to perpetuate our way of life and have my son follow the path. I am responsible. It is not about wanting.” His eyes moved to the wall as his voice slowed. “Not about how I feel. It is not about the past either.”

Alyssa watched the play of emotions on his face that eventually stilled leaving a blank stare.

She remembered watching his sorrow in the movie and his words about his wife and fire. She thought about his new words and wondered if he made a decision back in the North where the serpent dragons were that caused his people to be killed by them and left half of his face missing. 

She kept her voice steady and low. “You came here to get away from the drag…past. You thought you and your people would be safe here away from them then one showed up because of the Dw…neighbors. She was not safe because she tried to save the neighbors. They repaid you by stealing your heirloom gems then slammed the box shut when you reached for them as they sparkled like stars. The neighbor’s son then returned to his home to stir up the nightmare that is probably sleeping on your gems.”

His body remained perfectly still, but his eyes moved to her. He pronounced every word slowly while wondering how she could see so deeply into him. “You see much. What else do you see?”

She unfolded her arms knowing that he was finally getting to it. She was not going to mention the future, so she went another route. “Your face.”

He did not respond or even blink.

“Was it caused by dra…the sleeping nightmare’s…light?” She tried to avoid any mention of the word dragon, flame and fire.

“A few healers, the onetime Elvenqueen, and my guard know what happened. Thorin knows what it looks like and that it was caused by the sleeping ones as you are calling them. From which of these individuals did you hear about this?” His voice deepened. “Was it in one of your fictions or one of those articles you mentioned before?”

She openly stared at the side of his face trying to see if maybe some type of glamour was hiding it. “No one told me and I did not read of it. I saw. Here.” Her hand reached up and touched his face. “Are you hiding it or was it healed long ago and you can make it look that way to show others?”

“Why do you wish to know? Is it so you can write about it?” His eyes darkened as the intensity ratcheted up.

“No. I would never write or talk about it to anyone but you. Does it hurt?” Her voice was soft. 

“It is mostly healed now that the pestilence is being cleaned out of the forest. Only a small scar that shrinks.” He did not mean to tell her that. He clenched his teeth together not knowing why he kept confiding in her. 

“The spiders? I hate spiders.” She thought about the latest movie she just watched. “If the forest is harmed or becomes sickened by evil, it harms you? It brings the wound back?”

His head nodded very subtly. 

“When you were talking to Th…the neighbor, did you mean to let him see?”

“I felt myself losing my focus at holding the evil magic back and since we were already talking about sleeping nightmares, I let it finish taking over. I…” He couldn’t stop himself from talking. “I thought it would help persuade him to do what I wanted. I thought it would make him feel like we were on similar footing when it comes to the sleeping nightmares.”

Alyssa just had to find out more while he was talking. “Were you going to let him kill the nightmare and give you your gems then use your army to take everything from him?”

His body trembled as he tried to say something in such a way she would feel that she was answered, but not really answer. “Yes.” He clenched his teeth again wondering what she would ask next as he was helpless against her. He started to resent her for it.

“That’s what I thought. I also thought it was heartless that you don’t want your son with Tauriel. I umm thought you were with her when she came in here, but now I know you wouldn’t consider that. You find her beneath you and your son’s station.” She stared at her hands again. “Knowing that now, I wonder why I am in your bed. I’m a human and far below her station and vastly beneath yours. You should be appalled that I am even touching your things.” Alyssa took a deep breath and looked over the small scar on her thumb. 

It pained him to see that she was speaking negatively about herself, and he saw that it hurt her to say the words that he himself had thought. His growing resentment refocused on himself. 

She was asking questions and willing to give honest information. It left her in a good light, but he knew that revealing more about himself would not yield the same result for him. He wondered when he had let himself go so far? When had he started to become so cold?

Once again, he did not know how to answer her. 

She was afraid to ask, but knew she had to know the truth. “Are the humans that came with me dead or being mistreated?” From everything she had seen from him in the movie, she fully expected him to not answer or to say yes. She held her breath and waited for the confirmation.

“No.” 

The answer shocked her. “Thank you for your direct honesty. And we come back to it. What do you want from me?”

He opened his mouth and spoke without putting any thought into it. “For you to be less confusing and complicated.” 

A nock at the door had Thranduil rising to his feet and opening the ornate door to his sleeping chamber. 

Two dark haired male Elves entered and the shorter one was carrying a bag. 

Thranduil didn’t even spare her a glance as he spoke to them. “Do as you will.” He strode out. 

He knew that he would need to leave them to tend her sickness because he did not trust himself. He feared he would spew out more of his internal secrets with their listening ears picking up every word. 

“You promised I wouldn’t be harmed!” Alyssa yelled after him.

He backed up and looked in her direction, but did not make eye contact. “I did.” 

He turned his head toward the taller Elf that stood half way to the bed. “I checked her. She is not hot even though I thought it at first. I leave her to your hands.”

He left and Alyssa gaped after him. She wondered if he would have kept her for himself if he had found her more attractive or if she had kept her mouth shut. 

She knew she utterly failed in her plan as the door closed behind him. 

Alyssa was left alone with two male Elves that were even now taking off their long coats and watching her. 

A nervous laugh bubbled out her mouth as she spoke. “At least you aren’t Orcs.” 

The Elves spared a glance at each other then stepped forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t worry. She will be fine. I just had to say that. I already have 12 pages of the next chapter written. I will edit as fast as RL will let me. I don’t think she will react all that well to the healers and that made me explore how Thranduil will react. Heehheeee As a thank you to PJ for making the movie and giving Thranduil more depth and screen time, I will have to add another cast member to the next chapter. As for his reveal in the movie concerning his face, I want it to not be permanent because I want to keep him hot…wounded maybe a little but hot. Ok there. I said it. I love the angst and the fact that a human is pulling the strings instead of him being the puppet master. Eventually, I so need to get them in bed together. *takes a deep breath* First, I need him truly and utterly fallen for her and for her to understand his complexity.


	6. Information

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let’s see what happens to the fangirl next. I have to admit that I am curious as well.

She couldn’t decide if she should get out of the bed or not. If she did, then she feared they would chase and grab her. If she didn’t, then she was afraid that would make them think she was complicit. 

When the tall one approached the bed, Alyssa held out her hand palm facing him. “Stop. I don’t want either of you near me.”

“That would make this…more difficult.” The tall one offered even as he sat on the side of the bed very close to her. The other set his bag on a table and continued to watch. 

“You’re both Elves and supposed to be peaceful and kind. I know that from the Lord of the R…” She stopped herself knowing that what she was about to say was equal to saying Sauron. “I mean I heard that Elves are peaceful. If I tell you to stay away from me, you should respect that.”

The shorter Elf standing by the table countered. “We are here to do our duty. Nothing more. We were warned you may not look favorably on our ministrations, but it is for your own sake that we will do this. We will make it as painless as possible. You will feel better afterwards.”

The other nodded. “We have often noticed that humans caught up in fever act erratically and say things they don’t really mean.”

The shorter one agreed. “Yes, and often delusional.”

Alyssa could not believe what she was hearing. They were saying that it was their duty to attack her. They knew she didn’t want them, but they said it would be as painless as possible and that she would like it afterwards. Erratic? Delusional? “Caught up in fever? I think both of you are the delusional ones.”

The taller one leaned closer to her noticing the bright red skin on her face and neck. “Yes, fever. Are you feeling warm and achy?” His eyes roved over her face and chest again. 

“Get away from me you pervert.” She threw the blanket back toward his side of the bed and wanted to run from him.

His hands closed on her waist and pulled her back into the bed. “You need to lie down and be still or you could die. If you are fevered, then you could harm yourself. Just be still.”

“Like hell I will. And your threats won’t work on me.” She kicked out at him as the other came around the bed. When both of them were holding her in place, she feared they wanted her to struggle, so she went still as they said.

They let go and glanced back and forth at each other. Both of them were worried that if they didn’t find out how ill she was then Thranduil would behead them and with no one to tend her that she could die from sickness. 

“Open your mouth.” He wanted to check if her throat was red because he heard a hiss in her breathing and worried she might have the breathing sickness that was deadly to humans if untreated. 

She shook her head no as her face flamed redder.

The tall one sitting on the bed inched forward holding out his hand to the side. “Just allow me to see.”

She glanced back and forth. “No.”

First and foremost they wanted their patients to be well. One nodded and the other did. It was decided. They acknowledged to each other that they would risk another fit to make sure of her health.

The shorter Elf gripped her arms holding her down in the bed while the other pried open her mouth trying not to harm her in the process.

Alyssa’s mind offered that it must be how ponies feel when people in Westerns always kept looking at their teeth when they bought them. When her mouth opened, she let out a banshee screech that was so loud it seemed to reverberate off of the walls searching for a way out. 

A second later, the door burst open being half way ripped off the hinges. 

Alyssa’s vision blurred as she felt the hand on her jaw being ripped away. She continued to scream seeing that the Elves that were on the bed were now pressed to the wall held in place by their necks. 

Thranduil’s voice silenced hers. “What are you doing?”

She knew that he was cutting off their air and that there was no way they could speak. They just hung there gripping at his arms as their feet dangled. She knew from watching the movies that he was tall. But it struck her as she held them like dolls how tall and strong he was and that his clothing made him appear deceptively slimmer. She gasped believing that he would strangle them to death as she watched. 

“You’re healers!” Thranduil yelled releasing them so they slid down and gasped in air before he slammed their heads back into the wall lifting them even higher. “She is ill. She might have a fever. And you decided to cure her by what? Climbing all over her?” He growled with rage. “Answer me!”

Alyssa stopped crying at hearing the word healer. Memory flashed in her mind. She remembered when he brought her back and she asked for her group to be let out of the cages that he made some comment about healers. Ill? Fever? “Healers?”

At the sound of her voice, Thranduil dropped them and went to her side. He took her hand and pressed it to his lips briefly before inspecting her jaw that had a few reddened places where she had been grabbed earlier. “Did they hurt you? If they did, then I will kill them for you and feed their bodies to the wolves one piece at a time. Did they?”

Alyssa saw the madness in his eyes and knew he had lost control. She swallowed then glanced at the two Elves who were gasping for air rubbing their throats while they tried to remain bowing in his direction. She was use to people saying things like that in anger, but not really meaning a word of it. She looked deep into his eyes again that shone like the deadly silver of his sword and knew he fully intended to carry it out if she but nodded yes.

Alyssa shook her head no. “No they didn’t hurt me.” She remembered them talking about humans becoming erratic with fever and now knew they were not talking about being overcome with arousal. She now knew when they said that she would feel better after that they meant they were doctors and they were going to try to heal her. 

She felt like a complete idiot and the feeling only grew when she realized her misunderstanding of the situation almost cost two Elves their lives. “No. I’m not hurt. I think I was hysterical, but I’m better now. They helped me.” She thought to herself that yes they helped her in some way understand what was going on once they were almost killed and she thought it was about time his methods were used against him.

The intensity in his eyes lessened but he continued to tip his head from side to side while watching her as if trying to see something that was eluding him. 

“I’m fine now. Can I…can I talk to them alone for a moment?” Alyssa inquired. 

He stayed where he was at but glanced at the two Elves in the floor then back to her.

“It’s a treatment thing. It’s kind of embarrassing, so I would prefer to talk to them for just a moment. Please.” Alyssa desperately needed to explain to the Elves why she had acted like a lunatic, but feared what he would do if she said anything like that around Thranduil right now.

Thranduil blinked quickly a few times and took a breath coming back to himself. He let go of her hand and stood over the Elves. “If you touch her again, both of you will lose your hands.”

Thranduil moved to the door and ripped it the rest of the way off and leaned it against the wall. He turned and watched them with malice as if they were going to run over to her and poke her in the arm just to spite him. 

When they bowed even more, he left and even departed from the living area for the main chamber. 

“Oh my gawd. I’m so sorry. I thought…I thought you were both going to attack me…physically and that was why I acted like that. I’m so sorry.” Alyssa scooted to the edge of the bed and wiped the remaining wetness off of her face. 

They bowed even more almost pressing their faces to the floor. She didn’t know which spoke because the voice was a raspy whisper. “We only did what we did to try to help you. We would never strike a lady. Have no fear of that.”

She lowered her voice and angled her head some trying to see their faces. “No. I mean I thought he was giving me to the both of you. I thought this was about sex. I’m sorry. You’re doctors for god’s sake. I’m sorry.”

Their heads came up with a jolt. The one she thought of as the tallest spoke while holding his neck. “Neither of us would ever condone or tolerate a woman being forced.” He gaped at her as if she were accusing him. 

The other watched her wide eyed. “And we are not dock whores. We are healers who know something of humans. You thought we were dock whores and that he gave you to us to use harshly? Well, that explains everything. Do not be sorry to us. We should have explained ourselves better instead of assuming fever had taken your sense of reason. I will not make that mistake in the future. Thank you my lady. Even thinking the worst of us you spoke to him in a way that would spare our lives. I am sure we are grateful to you, but are you well? Is your throat red and do you have any difficulty breathing?”

Guilt struck her seeing them in the floor and knowing that they were almost killed and yet they still thought of her health. “No. I’m fine. I don’t feel sick, just stupid.” She pressed her hand to her forehead and laughed when they smiled. 

The Elves looked at each other then sat back against the wall. 

She waved a hand. “You guys can get up if you want too. Do you need something to drink?”

They bowed back professing they were well and that they would stay where they were till the Elvenking came back.

Thranduil strode in a few moments later. “Is everything settled?”

Alyssa stood up and went to him. “Yes.”

He glared at the two Elves seeing they were in the same place he left them. “You both may go, but stay in the realm incase she needs aid. Next time, I will remain in the room no matter the topic.”

“Yes my King.” They chanted in unison and backed out of the room then out of the chamber. 

It was only then that Alyssa realized that Thranduil had kissed her hand when he came to her rescue. “Before when you said I was not hot, where you talking about me not having a fever or were you commenting on not thinking I’m attractive?”

He blinked slowly at her a few times. “Fever. You did not appear well and I feared you were ill. Your state of heath appeared to be declining. You were flushed. Your eyes were red.” Confusion spread across his face.

“What about when you said I might need to take a bath?”

He tipped his head to the side. “I thought cool water might help with the fever…if you had one. Why else would I…” The confusion melted away. He glanced at the bed then back to her. “You did not know they were healers and you thought my actions were concerning your lack of attractiveness.” 

He paced away then back to her. “You did not know they were healers. Why did you think I sent them to you? Who did you think they were?”

His intensity caused Alyssa to start breathing faster and she knew she was flushing again. She knew now he would know it was not a fever, but her reaction to him that was causing it. Her lips parted with an intake of breath as her eyes scanned the floor. “I thought you were getting rid of me by selling me to them since you didn’t want me.” 

“Selling you?” He circled around her with his eyes hooded. “Why would I sell a spy who I have openly told secrets too?”

“Spy?” Alyssa squinted at him. “I’m not a spy. That’s silly.” She stopped what she was about to say because she feared those last two words might not be received well. She had just called the Elvenking silly. She closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth once then opened them again.

“You and your companions show up asking questions wanting to look around my kingdom. You spoke of writing about me and watching me. You drew me. Studied me. Tempted me. Is that why they picked you to gather information about me because sometimes you look like her? Your coloring is not like her, but sometimes your mimic her so closely it is as if she were here still.” He knew he was rambling and not making a lot of sense but he could not help it. His control was slipping. “Perfect bait for a king. Pierce his heart and his weaknesses will drop out for all to know. If you claim to not be a spy, then what are you?”

Alyssa felt overwhelmed by what he was saying and it pushed at her emotions especially after her assumptions had almost just caused two innocent Elves to die. She knew she was as unhinged as the door, but couldn’t pull herself back together. It was just too much. He was just too much.

“Lost. I’m lost.” She waved her arms. “I’m not a spy. I’m not from here. I don’t mean your kingdom, but I mean Middle Earth. I’m not from this time. This place. Where I’m from, you are nothing more than a character in a book that was made into a movie or I guess the closest thing here might be theater…make believe…acting…performances like a play for amusement and entertainment. Where I’m from, Elves and mutant wolves don’t exist. It’s fantasy. Its children’s stories. We thought we were showing up where they did the movie. We thought you were an actor who portrays an Elvenking. That’s why I freaked out pulling at your hair and scratching at your ears. I thought it was fake hair and plastic on your ears making them pointy.” Things had been way too tense for her and she had to let it out. “I’m not use to life and death situations happening every hour on the hour.”

Alyssa strode back and forth as Thranduil watched her. “I’m not from Middle Earth. I’m from another place, and in my country men don’t go around chopping heads off or feeding people to mutant wolves. We don’t have kings. We elect a President and vote on things. We don’t have real wizards like Gandalf. Well, he’s not really a wizard but a lesser god or something that lived where Galadriel did when she was young. We have wars that are fought with guns and drones not Wizards fighting a Balrog then Ring Wraiths.”

Thranduil stepped into her path and she put her hands out on his abdomen to stop from running into him. His hands went over hers pressing them so they stayed in place. “What do you know of Ring Wraiths?”

Her eyes went wide and she knew that her emotional outburst went too far. “I shouldn’t have said that.” She pulled at her hands knowing he was not going to let go. Even under so many layers of clothing she could feel a muscular frame. She tried to breath normal even as she felt his body move as he himself breathed. She tried not to look at his eyes, but that only resulted in peering at his wide shoulders and where his hands pressed against hers.

“Why? Do you work for a Wraith that is under the One?” His eyes pierced into hers as she looked up.

“No. They scare the hell out of me. I would never help them for any reason not even to save my life. They’re evil. They tried to kill…” Alyssa pressed her teeth together knowing she shouldn’t say Frodo.

“Who?” He leaned down bringing their faces closer together. 

She thought about the movie Hobbit and the Orcs. “Thorin.”

“True, but that is not who you were going to say. Who else have they tried to kill? Who were you going to say?”

“I shouldn’t say. It could change the future. If I tell you things, it might not work out the right way and then we could lose.” Alyssa tipped her head down feeling intimidated by him. She knew he could make her talk and not even by reverting to torture. All he would have to do was kiss her and she knew she might buckle.

“Who could lose?” His hands pressed harder when she tugged trying to slide them off of his body. It only resulted in sliding her hands farther down his body.

“We could lose. Not me but all of you. Middle Earth. The humans, Dwarves, Elves all the good people could lose. Galadriel said the quest stands on the edge of the knife or blade or something and if they stray even a little then they will fail. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize that. Well, she hasn’t said it yet. It’s like a hundred years from now I guess. I’m not sure, but everything has to happen a certain way or he will win.”

“Who will win and what does this person want?”

She was afraid to even say his name for fear he could hear it or something. She whispered thinking of Sam being caught by Gandalf listening at the window. “The Dark Lord and the end of the world.” 

He let her hands go, and she pulled them back now regretting the loss of the pressure of his much larger hands. 

“How do you know this?”

“I watched it. They are not always the same as the books, but the outcome is. Tell me this…has the dragon already been killed?”

Thranduil nodded.

“You fought a bunch of bad guys after that?”

He nodded again. 

“Ok, then it’s done for now. It picks up later with the Lord of the Rings.”

“The Ring of Power. It gets found? By who?”

Alyssa sat down in a chair and sipped on his wine. “Oh my gosh that’s strong. Like really strong mead.” She thought she could use some more and downed the rest. “I tried it once because I had this thing for blond Viking men a while back. Oh and no. It’s already found.”

“Who found it?” Thranduil inched closer pouring the glass full and offering it back to her. She wanted wine then he would give her wine and he hoped in return he would get information.

She felt dizzy, but enjoyed the taste. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know what it is, and he’s not evil. You should know that.” She lifted the glass then set it down. “No. You shouldn’t know any of this. It could change things. But then you weren’t there in the next war. I always wondered why you weren’t there. Galadriel either…she helped but never left her forest and neither did you for that matter. Is there a reason why both of you would stay away from war if the ring was found but not being used?” Alyssa felt like she was spinning.

Thranduil drank the wine since she didn’t. “Galadriel has foreseen that she will be tempted to use it.”

“She doesn’t. She passes her test.” She laughed and leaned forward. “She scares the hell out of Fr…people.” Alyssa felt like she was leaning sideways even though she was sure she was sitting straight in the chair. “What about you?”

“I will never allow myself anywhere near it. I have talked to Galadriel about this. I know myself. I would take it at all costs.” Thranduil offered her the wine. “If such a war happens, I would remain here using my abilities to control weather and earth to aid those who go.”

She drank some more thinking when he said at all costs that he meant exactly that. He would take the ring no matter what it cost. “You would take it to do good?”

“No. I would just take it.” A wicked smile quirked on his lips as he took the glass from her hand and lifted the glass to his lips. He watched her over the rim. 

Alyssa licked at the taste of wine that lingered on her lips as she grazed over his body with her eyes then focused on his full lips and eyes. “You’re scary.” 

“And you like that.” He made a statement. “What else do you like? What was it? Yesssss…Blond men.” He tipped his head to the side letting his hair fall forward toward her. He almost leaned forward and kissed her when her eyes half closed as she tipped her head up breathing in the scent of his hair that fanned toward her. “I do not know what a Viking is though.”

Alyssa was lost in the scent and touch of silken gold hair all around her. “Ancient warriors. Tall strong sword wielding warriors.”

“Have you had such a man?” Thranduil asked pleasantly, but internally spikes of jealousy sprung up stabbing at him. 

“I ummm no. Real Vikings like back in the old day don’t exist anymore.” Alyssa reached up and let her hand skim across his hair. “Soft.” Her hand draped it to the side where her skin bumped into his bicep. She blinked a few times then ran her fingers over his impressive arm. “Hard.”

He moved in front of her and gripped the arms of the chair to stop himself from lifting her out of it and against his body. “So you are not a spy. You are lost in what did you call this…a fantasy?”

She sipped the last of the wine and held the glass out to him. “It’s a nightmare fantasy.”

“A nightmare?” He took the glass and set it to the side. 

“Yes. I almost drowned. Killer wolf mutant. Scary King. I almost got two Elves killed. My group was put in cells. Wait, are they alright?” In her drunken state, she found it hard to focus and had even forgotten they had already talked about her group.

“Yes. Who has the ring?”

“I can’t answer that. If you ask again, I’ll be forced to take a vow of silence to keep the world safe, and I will have to run away somewhere because I think you could get me to talk. You have already. Wait one more thing. You said control weather and earth. Could you cause the ground to open up and swallow a massive Orc army if you were far away?”

Thranduil stood up straight. “Not by myself.” He paced around then came back. “I would have to be at a place of power. I would have to have Galadriel and Celeborn’s help, so it would have to take place in Lothlórien where the magic fills the trees.” He glanced around then back. “Elrond would need to help, but he could do that from Rivendell. Much farther away and he could not help. How far away is the army?”

“The gates of Mordor. Could you feel it if the ring was destroyed then know it was time to swallow up the bad army, but not hurt the good guys who may be close by?” Alyssa leaned back fully against the chair as she was unable to sit up on her own. 

Thranduil folded his hands behind his back thinking with practice it could be done. “Yes.”

Alyssa’s eyes closed a few seconds then opened. “That’s why you guys aren’t going to be there fighting. I wondered why you guys were gone. That makes sense now. I think I need to sleep.” Alyssa’s eyes closed and she fell fast asleep. 

Thranduil watched her for a few minutes then went back to pacing. He thought over what she said. She was not sure when it would happen only that it was somewhere around a hundred years in the future. He would need to work together with the other Elves to swallow up an army that was far away after the ring is destroyed. She knew who found the ring. She acted like he knew the person. The person did not know what it was. He thought over who it could be. He realized yes he was trying to figure it out so he could take it from them. 

Alyssa opened her eyes. “Don’t ask me anything else. I can’t be responsible for all of your deaths. I can’t.”

He felt the impact of her words and knew a decision he made long ago to have civilians help with a group of dragons that were attacking their city cost a quarter of their lives. He watched her blinking slowly with a light flush to her face. So young. So venerable and drunk. He knew he could get more information out of her. He wanted the ring. At what cost to her and everyone else? He took a deep breath knowing things inside himself had shifted. Once he would not have even hesitated, but now because of this one young human woman he knew he could not proceed.

He bowed to the watching Alyssa. “I vow on the memory of my lost Elvenqueen, your life and the life of my son I will not try to find out who has the ring, and I will ask you nothing more of the future. I will only tell those that must know, and I will make them vow on all they hold most dear that they will not tell anyone else without my consent. I so vow.”

“Good.” Alyssa fell back to sleep. 

Thranduil rose and pulled out his sword. He gripped the blade and pulled it back letting his blood flow pooling on the floor. “I so vow.” The drops of blood was like a massive bell being struck and he knew that in his vow the fate of the world hung. He would not break it and he knew he would kill anyone who would betray it.

Eventually, he noticed that she curled up like she was cold. He contemplated putting his blanket on her then noticed his hand was still dripping a little. He used items from the healer’s bag that was left behind to close up the wound. He knew it would be like new by morning. 

Knowing that the bed was more comfortable, he gently picked her up and took great pains to make sure he did not wake her. He lay her down then covered her knowing that his connection to her was more than just learning information and her expressions that made him think of his lost love. 

The skin on her face and arms felt cool, so he began to worry again. He knew from her own words she was not use to harsh things. “Delicate.” He had never found that appealing before and had felt the opposite in fact. But now watching her, he felt as if she were a precious jewel that could be damaged and not repaired. 

He turned to the fireplace. He knew he forced himself to be around flames while out in the wild so that none could guess his weakness. He thought of the Orc and knew that the enemy had the information already. If he had dealt with it for is pride then he could deal with it for her sake. 

He built a fire to take the chill out of the room all the while thinking that she was becoming even more precious to him. He folded his arms and realized that in his vow he had listed her with the members of his family. His hand went up to his broach, and he closed his eyes knowing that his Elvenqueen had foreseen this. 

He whispered not knowing if she could hear him or not. “My Elvenqueen. My love, I did not believe you. If you can hear me, please forgive me for not speaking to you before now and for locking myself away in the darkness you did not wish me to dwell in. I do not know if I can do this, but I will try. I love you.” Tears dripped from his eyes. It had been since her death that he allowed himself to feel the impact of her passing without shielding to some degree. His heart wrenched and his body shook.

The flame in the fireplace died down and he felt colder. He turned to the other side of the room that was away from the bed and thought he saw a glimpse of his former wife. 

He leaned forward hearing her voice floating toward him with a feeling of love. “Be at peace. Farewell.” 

He strode forward into mist that cooled his skin. “Be at peace.” He replied and wrapped his arms around himself wondering if she had lingered all this time waiting to be sure he was alright and not wanting to leave him alone without someone. 

After an hour of reflection, he turned to the jug of wine, but didn’t feel a compulsion to drink it dry. A smile broadened his face till he saw all of his blood on the floor. “That will never do.”

He left his chamber to retrieve something to clean it up with knowing that if Alyssa woke up and slipped in it getting his blood all over her that she would be traumatized again. 

 

Alyssa woke to feel the bed dip down. She was lying on her side with her hair over her face. Her heart sped up thinking that Thranduil had joined her. 

She opened one eye only a slit and saw blond hair and the outline of a man sitting on the bed. “Took you long enough. I think the wine did me in.”

Alyssa reached up pulling him down to her noticing that he pulled back some. She determined that he was not getting away from her this time. She wrapped her arms around him so as he pulled back sitting up that she came up with him. 

His hands went to her arms as she shortened the distance pressing her lips to his. 

He gasped as if in shock and angled his head farther back. 

Alyssa loosened her arms noticing that the blond hair that fanned around her didn’t smell like pine and berries, but more like citrus and spiced cider. 

A growling at the door turned Alyssa to see the firelight flickering on Thranduil as he stood where the ripped off door leaned on the wall. He had a bowl and cloth in his hands then he threw them on the floor.

“This is not as it appears. I think in her drunken state she thought I was you.” The man she just kissed spoke for the first time.

Alyssa completely let go of the man and fell back a few inches onto the bed as he talked. She recognized him instantly when the light shone on his face as he turned to Thranduil. She pushed at him catching him off balance, so he fell on the floor sprawling. 

Thranduil tried to remain calm. “She is drunk. What is your excuse Legolas?”

“I was trying to see who she was, and it was just a simple kiss. Nothing more.” Legolas glanced at the fire. “There was a fire and a woman. I thought something was wrong.”

“I have a woman in my room with a fire to keep her warm and that means something is so wrong that you have to come in here…and kiss her to what? Make it better? Is it so unusual that I would have some type of company?”

Legolas felt trapped. “Yes.”

Thranduil stepped closer. “Yes to which question?”

Alyssa pointed at Legolas. “You’re not supposed to be here. I know this is your father’s kingdom, but when I read it you were not here. I mean it makes sense you would be in your own father’s kingdom, but well…in one version you were and in another you were not. It gets confusing, but I ummm think it’s better when you are here. Adds to the story, in the books we only see you once the…”

“Alyssa be quiet. Do not speak of the future.” Thranduil leaned forward as his voice boomed out. He didn’t want to have to kill his son, and didn’t think he could even to save the whole of Middle Earth.

Legolas saw flashes of emotions in his father’s face and knew this was no ordinary human. “She was one of the humans from that group. What is happening? What will happen?”

“You do not need to know, and you will not ask ever again about information she knows of the future. The lives of Middle Earth are in the balance. Yours and mine as well.” Thranduil glanced at the ceiling. “I have lied to myself telling myself for a long time that if we stay inside our realm then we will be safe. I fear you will one day need to venture out and I must remain.” 

Legolas touched his lips then peered down at her. He glanced around the room and tipped his head to the fireplace knowing how much his father hated fire. “Do you want me to have her taken to another room?”

“No. And she has drunk our wine. She will start talking again, so she remains where she is. Who knows what else she will say?”

Legolas walked over and picked up the wine jug. “You know they are not supposed to drink our strong wine straight. Our wine is a lot stronger than even their strongest hard liquor. The wine we send down to the humans is only a third wine. It is mixed with water as to not poison them. They can become ill if they drink too much of the strong. They call it alcohol poisoning. They pass out and never wake up.” 

“Poisoning?” Thranduil jerked forward to her side. “Wake up.” He took her hand and started smacking it.

Legolas sprinted to the healer bag and rummaged around in it. “Here.” 

“I do not know what to do. I usually do not pay attention to any treatment other than ones for Elves.” Thranduil gave the leaves back to Legolas. “Help her. I command it.”

“Yes. Yes. Give me the water glass.” Legolas went to the other side and rubbed the leaves between his hands and chanted. The leaves turned old and cracked into pieces. “How much did she drink anyway? One sip? Two?”

Thranduil held the water glass out as the broken dried leaves started to fall inside. “Two glasses I think.”

Legolas took a deep breath. “I don’t know if that is enough to kill one so small, but these leaves will absorb what is in her stomach and start to leach it out of her body.” Legolas dusted his hands off.

Thranduil leaned her forward and put it to her lips. “Alyssa. Drink this.”

Her eyes opened unable to focus, but she drank. After about half of the glass, she pushed it aside. “Tastes awful.”

“You have had too much wine and this will help.”

“No. I’m fine. I’m just not use to drinking. A lightweight.” She pushed his hand back.

Thranduil turned to Legolas. “Should she drink more?”

“I do not think so. If they can talk then no one worries.” Legolas watched his father lay the human woman back noticing that his father was truly concerned for her and it was not just some ploy. 

Thranduil moved her hair out of her face. “I almost poisoned you with too much wine. Make sure in the future you mix it with water.”

“I keep almost dying. I told you this was a nightmare.” Alyssa’s drunken mind offered something she had memorized in school for speech class, but she didn’t remember it all and skipped around adding in things. “Yes, a nightmare upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary…does attacked by a wolf then drunk count?, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore…and Lord of the Rings books, while I nodded nearly napping…or being poisoned, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door…but it wasn’t tapping you ripped that thick door off its hinges. And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor…sorrow for the lost Lenore. For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore, Nameless here for evermore…Quote the raven, Nevermore.”

Legolas turned to her as if offended then back to his father. “You talked to her of the Elvenqueen? You told her the unspoken name?”

“No.” Thranduil was white as a piece of paper as he stepped away from Alyssa. 

Legolas hurt at the sound of his mother’s name and leaned over her whispering. “My lady…do not speak her name I implore you.”

Alyssa sat up and had to plant her hands on either side to stay steady. “That’s what I said. She is nameless. And you aren’t supposed to be here anyway. It wasn’t in the Hobbit. I told you some things were different…are different.”

“Yes she is right, Legolas. I got a message you were going to Rivendell.” He wanted Legolas away from her before she said anything else or tried to kiss him again.

Legolas stood up straightening his clothing and noticed all the blood and water on the floor for the first time. “I was going, but the birds told of strange tidings of a Warg attacking a human and you going after it.” He turned back to the bed. “You should have her looked after by the healers who I saw when I…” He remembered they appeared to have been strangled. “Or maybe she already has been.” He peered over his shoulder back to his father. “She was wounded and you gave her wine? Humans are not like us. She could bleed to death if she has wine and is wounded that severe. It thins their blood.” He pointed to the floor with accusation.

“It is not her blood. She only has a few scratches. Do not lecture me…” Thranduil was cut off.

Alyssa slumped over. “Yes the mutant wolf was a Warg I think. It attacked me and a group of them will attack you Legolas.”

Both men turned to face her. 

“Don’t worry. They don’t kill you. You think they kill someone, but he is alive. Can Elf women heal human men? Well he is not exactly human…can they heal mostly human men from a distance? I think she healed him. They love each other. I think sometimes that Lord of the Rings is a love story. How he becomes who he should to rule and save everyone. Those ghost things in the mountain were scary. Lots of sculls. I don’t need to tell you that. No wait. You haven’t done that yet. Well, the ghost army is evil but they help you guys. I shouldn’t be saying any of this, but your best friend is a Dwarf and he goes into the mountain because you do. It’s so funny. You kill more than he does.” Alyssa giggled and closed her eyes falling back to sleep. 

The men watched her making sure she was breathing. It took a few moments for them to remember that the leaves continue to work on removing the alcohol and that she was safe now.

“Father. What is going on? Is she part Elvish or touched by the gods?”

“No. Vow that you will never speak about what she has told. Vow it on your mother’s memory and spirit that visited me tonight.”

Legolas tipped his head to the side.

“Vow.”

“I vow. Is that what she meant by ghost?”

“I do not know what she meant. Truthfully, I don’t know what she is talking about half of the time. It might be better that way. Come. We need to talk.” Thranduil left the chamber wondering how she had known her name. 

Thranduil paused at the door seeing that one of the male guards was blond. “You. Go find someone who has dark hair to take your place. And don’t let anyone in the rooms save me.”

Legolas waited till they were away before talking. “Why did you change guards?”

“She is still drunk and I don’t want to have to kill half the kingdom because they look like blond Viking warriors.”

Legolas thought of the brief kiss and the drunken human in his father’s bed that spoke of the future as if it already happened. “I think I understand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I just had to have Legolas interrupt things and blend The Raven. I cannot take credit for the word doctor being mistaken for dock whore…that was all Sandra Hill and her Viking books. I remembered it and had to add it. Oh my. What will happen when she wakes up and he comes back? A bath perhaps?


	7. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok let’s bring on the Thranduil death glairs and the Alyssa rant. I have to give some time to Legolas too.

Alyssa woke and pushed back the blanket. Her eyes opened to find that yes it was real. She had slept in Thranduil’s bed. She turned her face and smelled the pillow welcoming the scent of berries. She breathed deeply and ran her hand over the silken sheets wishing it was his body. 

She didn’t hear any sounds in the other room, so she ventured out while resisting the urge to look inside his cabinets and dresser. 

A small wooden door off to the side caught her attention and when she opened the door she was almost giddy to find a restroom. After using the facilities and stripping naked for a quick shower that came down from the ceiling like a waterfall, she wrapped in a towel then realized she didn’t have anything to change into. 

“Guess I’ll have to check his drawers.” She giggled to herself about the use of the word drawers while thinking of his pants. She stopped when she saw a bundle on a chair that had a note addressed to her in lavish calligraphy. 

 

It read: Lady Alyssa, I would ask a favor of you. I invite you to attire yourself in the raiment I have selected for you. I attempted to have it in keeping with the style you appear to favor.   
Elvenking Thranduil

 

Alyssa smiled from ear to ear as she took off the green ribbon that tied it to the bundle and used it to restrain her dark hair. She pulled on the soft green shirt that had designs of leaves sewn into it. The sleeves billowed, but the bodice part was fitted and had little clasps to hold it in place. She shook out a pair of black pants and tried them on thankful they fit in the waist then draped down. She put her own socks and boots on that apparently someone washed. 

“Wait. I don’t remember taking off my socks.” She realized her memory was shaky. 

She walked back into the bedroom and around the other side of the bed trying to remember what happened. “Blood…water…broken glass. What happened?”

She stood in the center of the room as her memory started to comeback. The healers who she thought were slavers flashed into her mind. She turned to the wall where they sat. “Not theirs.” 

She didn’t remember the Elvenking bleeding then she remembered the wine and a kiss. The touched her lips and turned looking at the bed then back to where the door was leaning. “Growling. It wasn’t him I kissed. It was…” 

She gasped realizing that she didn’t remember anything after that other than thoughts of The Raven by Edger Allen Poe. “That doesn’t make any sense unless he hurt Legolas. He hurt Legolas for kissing me? It was just a peck.” 

She stared at the blood that was mixed with some water. It was partially dried. “He wouldn’t.” 

She remembered the Orc he beheaded and how fierce his anger could get. It was so much more terrifying to witness in person than just viewing on a television or cell. She remembered the instant and intense fear when she didn’t know what he was doing or going to do. 

Alyssa went out to the main door and opened it to find two tall dark haired Elves standing guard. “Hi. Do you know where Legolas is at?”

One Elf ignored she spoke, but the other who had kind brown eyes tipped his head down to her and kept his voice low. “I believe you would call it a healing chamber.”

She blanched. “Is he hurt?”

“I do not know my lady. It is down that corridor. Fifth door on the left.” He straightened back up.

Alyssa trotted quickly down the wide walkway that had images depicted on the walls of Elves strolling in gardens and bathing in waterfalls. 

She opened the door praying he was alright. 

Her mouth fell open at the sight of dark green hanging vines with little purple flowers in them. Alyssa had expected a hospital setting, not a botanical garden. 

She brushed the delicate vines aside and saw them growing in different places around white fountain statues that were of Elven women pouring water from different kinds of containers into pools of water. Green glowing plants sprouted out of the water. The gentle current from the fountains made them sway so that the light wavered and shimmered on the walls and vines. It made her feel like she stepped into the lost city of Atlantis. She felt instantly relaxed as if she had spent the entire week in a spa.

The scent made her think of spring as she moved farther in seeing a few Elves sitting on marble benches that were topped with dark green cushions. In the background, she thought she heard flutes and harps gently playing in time with the swaying of the reflections. 

She spotted Legolas reclining on a chase lounge chair. As she walked over to him, Legolas dipped his hand into the water and swirled till a golden fish emerged from the deep and splashed water. She heard him speaking to the fish in Elvish as she approached his side. 

“Legolas?” Alyssa whispered because she noticed no one else was talking in the large chamber.

He peered up then an instant smile broadened his face. It was a smile she remembered from watching Lord of the Rings and she could not help but smile back. 

He sat up and motioned for her to join him. 

She leaned toward him. “Are you hurt?”

He glanced back at the water. “Not physically.” He put his hand over his heart.

She saw worry dance over his face till he took a deep breath and it seemed to leave with the exhale. 

“I saw blood and a broken container on the floor in the bedroom when I woke up and I remembered some things. Not all. But what I remembered was…Thranduil was not happy and you were sitting on the bed with me. I kissed you.”

Legolas turned more fully toward her. “Yes. Our memories are the same. But no, he did not harm me. I noticed the state of the floor after he arrived and I thought you were hurt. You do not remember anything more?”

“It’s all fuzzy in my mind. I guess it was the wine. Oh, I remember rambling and did I quote the Raven? Ummm did I say things like quote the raven Nevermore?”

Legolas nodded. “You were quoting literature from…your homeland?” 

“Yes.”

“Then the name you mentioned in it?” Legolas raised an eyebrow.

“Was part of the quote.”

Legolas’ voice dropped and he leaned even closer. “Do not speak it, but that was the Elvenqueen’s name.”

Alyssa processed what he told her then inquired. “This is a place for healing your mind and heart?

He nodded.

“Me speaking her name…is that why you’re here?”

“Partly.” He pushed his long blond hair back. “I am also dealing with letting my feelings concerning Tauriel go. I’ve been alone for so long that working side by side with her became a substitute of sorts for a real connection. But I cannot despair; I do greatly enjoy having someone who amuses me to go adventuring with.”

Alyssa smiled again. “Then don’t worry…no I can’t say. Just don’t worry about the companion to go adventuring with. I’m not meaning me, but don’t worry.” She actually giggled when she thought about Gimli was in competition with him about who kills the most enemy. 

“Thank you my lady. You give me hope.” He continued to watch her.

She finally realized what the other girls in the group meant when they went on about how beautiful he was. He was practically beaming with infectious happiness all over his young perfectly sculpted face. She blinked a few times thinking that he was almost the opposite of his father in mannerisms. “You’re easy to talk to and even when you are sad it seems like right behind the surface there is a joy in you waiting to come out. I didn’t notice that before.”

He looked over her face then paused. “Does Thranduil know and is this alright with him?”

“Is what alright with him?” Alyssa was not sure what he meant. She wondered if she should have asked permission to leave his bedroom. 

“Intercourse between you and I.”

Alyssa sat up straight and leaned away from him. “What?”

“I am not sure if he would approve after the way he acted last night after the kiss.”

“I ummm. I’m here to check on you not roll around naked with you.” Alyssa swallowed a few times and had to fight off the mental images she saw from her friend’s drawings of Legolas half naked. She had never really thought of him that way and didn’t want to start now. 

He blanched then squinted at her. “My lady, I am aware you are checking on me because you thought me harmed, but whatever I have done to make you think I have physical intentions toward you. I apologize. I admit the kiss was my first time kissing a human, and I may have dreamed about you last night, but I have added that to things I must let go of and so I am here.”

“Dreamed…let go…wait. You never kissed a human before? No don’t answer that umm.” She felt completely flustered even in the virtual paradise. “You said intercourse.” 

“Yes, and we are.”

“And see that is what I mean. We are not.” Alyssa shook her head. “You’re wrapped in a million robe things and I’m not even touching you. I definitely would not call this intercourse.”

“Then what do you call his?” He lowered his voice to nothing but air and leaned forward so that others may not hear what he was saying. 

“It’s not foreplay.” She said it as a way of confirming it in her mind.

He broke out in another consuming smile and his voice returned to normal. “No. It is not. It could be if we continue, but this is not.” He chuckled. Then he stopped while still watching the confusion on her face he spoke again. “You are very amusing. I think I understand what is happening. When I say intercourse, I mean speaking and communicating. It appears you believe it means something else.”

“Oh my gawd. Yes, where I’m from it means well fooling around…physically in bed. Yes, Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley…Mr. Collins says through the intercourse…and he was talking about talking.” Alyssa smacked her hand down on his shoulder. “We were talking about two different things.” She pushed his shoulder then let go. “Culture shock at its worst. Only I would mix up sex and conversation. I think when you mentioned the kiss and if things were alright with Thrandy it threw me off.” She pressed a hand to her stomach laughing. 

A growling hiss sound behind her practically closed off her windpipe. Her eyes went up to Legolas and she saw a serious expression on his face. She turned to the other away from Legolas and instantly stood up blocking Legolas from the man that was practically frothing with anger. 

“What is going on here?” Thranduil barked.

Alyssa felt nervous energy burst all over her body, and she held her hands out to the side not aware that she was blocking even more of Legolas from him. “Well it’s not intercourse.” She giggled like a mad woman while Thranduil tightened his grip on his sword that was still sheathed. 

She took a breath and told herself to get control. “Ok. It was funnier in my head. I thought he was hurt. There was blood in the floor.”

Thranduil had heard the last couple of sentences she said before she noticed he was there and wondered why she was talking to Legolas about sex, kissing and talking about him while mocking his name calling him Thrandy. “I inquired with the guards as to your location and they said the first thing you asked for upon leaving my bed chamber was where Legolas was at. You sought him out after leaving my bed.”

“Yes, I said that already. I thought you hurt him.” 

“I would not hurt my son.”

She remembered Legolas’ sad expression and that it was mostly about Tauriel. “Not physically apparently.”

Thranduil raised his voice even louder. “I desire this chamber to be emptied.”

“Their meditating. We can go somewhere else.” Alyssa stepped once in the direction of the door and noticed that Thranduil and Legolas stayed where they were. The other Elves kept moving toward the door. “Or not.” She put her hands on her hips thinking that she kept forgetting he was a king and was use to commanding everyone around and that everything was his…literally. 

Alyssa turned so she could glance between the king and the prince. 

She looked to Legolas thinking that he appeared calm, was easy to talk to, pleasing to the eye, skillful with a sword and cared about what other’s felt and thought. She glanced back to Thranduil and determined that he appeared to be filled with rage and anger, was difficult to talk with, seductive to the eye, also skillful with a sword and did not give a good god damn about anyone’s feelings or anyone’s thoughts but his own. 

On the surface of these facts, she supposed it might be why so many preferred Legolas and his gentler more playful passions. She could see why they would prefer him and in so little a time had felt a kind of draw to him. But, she couldn’t turn away from the lure of the Elvenking and his wounded soul. “God help me.”

“Elvenking Thranduil will be sufficient for now.”

She shook her head thinking again that she needed help. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

His eyes fixed on Legolas with malice that surely could have melted the One Ring.

“Oh, for god’s sake, I wasn’t talking to him either.” She didn’t know what else to say so she blurted out what she was thinking. “I was asking my god for divine assistance dealing with how complicated and volatile you are. Because I can’t help wanting you and I don’t mean just your …umm body. There I said it. The pitiful human likes the king and was worried his son was wounded because said human was drunk and mistook him for his father and kissed him. There. Deal with it.” She threw her hands up into the air. “And take your hand off of your sword. It is like a threat to everyone around you that you are about to chop off their heads, but it makes me think about you naked and …well never mind what visuals it gives me about your naked body. Just stop it. It’s too much! You’re too intense all the time. You need to sit here and stare at the water a while and I’ll go find something to eat. I have been told I’m bossy when I’m hungry.” She yelled back over her shoulder. “Chop off my head if you want too, but I have to eat something.”

She stomped off farther into the chamber to a table that had bread, berries and other fruits.

Thranduil’s jaw dropped. No human or woman for that matter had spoken to him like that in over a couple thousand years. She insulted and praised at the same time while commanding him around. What shocked him even more was that he actually sat next to Legolas and peered into the water. 

Legolas watched him in an equal state of awe. He had never witnessed his father act so compliant before…to anyone save his mother the Elvenqueen Lenore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thanks to the Raven she has a name now. I just picture a bunch of golden curtains then you see a lot of Elf men walking around with very short hair. “Hey what’s up with your short hair?” The Elf tips his hair to the curtains. This mini fic was brought to you by A/N. Heheheee Thranduil needs to go on at least one more rampage before they get together.


	8. Joy and Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning---Rating M--- Thranduil stripping and ripping his clothing off may result in heavy breathing and an Elven-fever. But first, I give you a family moment. LOL!

Legolas pressed his hands together and eyed his father while trying not to smile. “She must be very hungry.”

Thranduil watched after her and shook his head. “Yes. Humans usually eat meat with their meals, so perhaps she feels starved just eating our food. Humans and Hobbits need more variety.”

Legolas nodded. “If they are going to be here for any amount of time, there may need to be a hunting party sent out or we could lay in supplies from the Lake Town. They always have a lot of fish and deer.” He knew broaching the topic that way might cause his father to give more light as to his intensions with Alyssa. It could reveal if he meant to keep her around or not. 

Thranduil turned his attention to his son. “Do you really expect me to comment on that?”

Legolas knew that meant that his father understood what he was trying. He took in a slow breath and ignored the question because it wasn’t really a question. He knew that his father did not know a lot about humans and that could cause her to be malnourished. He thought about having to mix a concoction to save her from alcohol poisoning. “The humans will need meat if we are to keep them comfortable and less…what was the word? Bossy.” He thought if he put a positive spin on the end that it would persuade him to order them food that was appropriate for them as any sovereign would for guests. 

Thranduil squinted at Legolas thinking that he was asking for her to stay even if Thranduil did not have any strategies as to why she needed to remain. His mind offered the state he found them in when he returned to his bedchamber. Arms clasped, lips pressing, gasps of air…

He further believed the bossy comment was a way of pointing out that he had allowed himself to be ordered around by a human. Thranduil paused in his thoughts wondering if that was what was meant or if Legolas was just pointing out that the Elvenking would have to give the order to bring dead carcasses into the mountain for the humans. 

Thranduil instantly thought of the implication. It would show that she was important enough to do separate trade arrangements for. 

Thranduil stood up now fearing that if he did then his people would know that he favored Alyssa. He reminded himself he had already recued her, walked in half clothed carrying her and that he had her group moved to more comfortable lodgings. If he now arranged for special food stores for her, it would signal to all in his lands and the Lake Town that he was besotted with her and that she had the power to guide his will. 

It was a weakness he believed he could not afford. 

Thranduil peered off into the distance. “There will be no hunting party. There will be no trade for extra supplies. They will eat what they are given for as long as they are here.”

Legolas saw the shift in him, so he stood and placed his hand on his arm. “Father. Please reconsider.” 

Feeling the contact, Thranduil angled toward Legolas. Memories flooded his mind of when Legolas was very young and would run to him grabbing his arm asking to go for a ride his Elk. Thranduil could practically feel lifting the small joyful bundle into his arms then vaulting up for a turn around the garden paths. 

He blinked back to reality noticing how concerned his son was. “Very well. Go yourself into the forest and return letting none in the Lake Town know.” 

Legolas marveled at how quickly his father changed his mind. Truthfully, he thought it would take till Alyssa was noticeably weak from hunger before he would comply. He risked a question. “Why so sudden a change?” 

Thranduil clasped his son’s arm so they were gripping onto each other. He felt regret for how often he ignored his feelings for his son because looking upon him reminded him of what he lost. “You look so very much like her.”

Legolas lowered his head. It was a conformation to him of what he hoped all these years. The icy façade was because he cared too much instead of so little.

Thranduil continued. “I would see you joyful again like when we went for rides together. I fear my pain has dwindled your joy.”

Legolas’ tear filled eyes focused back on his fathers. “It has appeared as if you felt nothing for her loss.” He paused and took in a breath. “I remember her cheerful and laughing in the gardens. It makes me feel happiness and sorrow at the same time, but hearing a confirmation that you share in my struggle lessens my pain. Father.”

Thranduil relaxed the control he held over himself and allowed Legolas to see on his face what he felt in his heart. “Not a day passed from that to this that I do not feel the loss of her. I fear pushing away the memories of her has left me wrapped in despair. I have been harsh with you when you needed kindness because your happy demeanor along with your appearance makes the loss that much more acute. Forgive me.” 

Legolas let go of his arm and embraced him. In all his sessions in this healing room, he never even fantasized once that his father would voice such things to him. He clung to him now feeling that the smiling elegant king that he knew as a child was still in there…that he did not die with his beloved. 

Legolas let go feeling tears fall down his face even as a smile pushed forward. “There is nothing to forgive.” He turned a little farther to the side. “I am going hunting. I’ll return later today.” He angled back to his father and breathed in more easily than he had in years. He wiped his face as he departed and thought of how thankful he was to Alyssa because she had brought his father back from darkness. 

 

Thranduil knew she was standing close, but he did not move to face her. He waited for her to finish coming to him and put his hand out to lean upon a marble column. 

He didn’t have words to express the feelings of admiration that pushed forward replacing the sorrow. He marveled that a mere human with all her flaws and all her vibrant beauty was capable of bringing life back to his heart and restoring his relationship with his son. 

He had to control himself not to turn to her and kneel before her out of reverence because she had broken through the frosted shield he had held so tightly around him for so many many years. He contemplated that it was her youth and humanity that caused her to experience everything so strongly. She was like a bright shining star burning and consuming itself quickly compared to the other steady glowing stars that were not so bright, but would outlast the first. 

He had never for one second felt humble in his life, but he supposed this was the closest he would ever come to it. He realized her life would pass so much more quickly like that kind of star. Burning. Flaming then gone. And in her short life, she found him and his situation important enough to waste time on. To invest time with. He knew it to be a gift more precious than the most dazzling of gems that were cold and hard not giving life of their own, but her…she was giving parts of her short life and herself to him. He clenched his teeth fighting not to kneel. 

Alyssa set her plate down on the chase lounge and faced him. She saw mixtures of emotions on his face. It was like watching leaves being pulled along inside a river’s strong current. She berated herself for her rant about his intensity and how he stands with his hand on his sword. Those were minor and insignificant things compared to the end of the conversation she heard.

She now felt silly for yelling at him for being himself. 

If he was complicated, it was because he was thousands of years old and had fought in more battles than she could possibly imagine and had done so against foes that seemed to be straight out of hell. 

If he was intense and calculating, it was because he was responsible for an entire nation of people who relied on him for their lives while said foes were out to kill them all. She concluded that the weight of the world was on his shoulders…literally. And who was she to berate him and order him about? A human. A nobody. She had never run a nation or even a business for that matter. 

She reminded herself these were deadly times where Orcs, Goblins, Watchers in the Water, Wargs, Trolls, Uruk-hai, Nazgul, Balrogs, Great Spiders and Dragons enjoyed slaughtering innocents by the thousands and tens of thousands. They held no mercy and savored torturing their pray in the most sadistic manners possible. 

Thranduil was responsible for out witting and out maneuvering them and had done so for thousands of years. Her mind stuck on one word… thousands. Not a few years or ten years or a hundred years, but …thousands. What must one experience being in that situation for thousands of years? The question alone brought her breath in with a shutter. 

Alyssa spoke quietly well aware of her own insignificance. “I’m sorry.”

He did not respond, but started watching her.

She tried again. “I’m sorry for yelling. I must have been hungrier than I thought.” She knew that was not enough of an explanation for her behavior, so she made herself continue. “I’m not use to being here or around royalty. You have a lot of responsibilities. I forget sometimes that you are a king. I’m sorry.” She wondered if she should bow and remembered that the actor who played him said that he thought Thranduil wanted people to. 

She shook her head no thinking that a curtsy might look stupid to him, so she lowered her head and closed her eyes thinking he would walk away from her. 

After a few seconds, she felt his warm hand on the side of her face and his thumb gripped under her jaw. She allowed him to raise her face up having no idea what was expected of her. She was almost afraid to open her eyes, but then she smelled the berry pine scent of his hair and knew he moved closer. 

Her eyes flashed open to see his mere inches away. She gasped and pulled back, but his hand tightened holding her in place. His other arm circled her waist pulling her even closer as he bent down to her while speaking in a seductive whisper. “Then I will remind you.”

He closed the distance between their mouths, but only grazed his lips across hers. As he spoke, the softness of his lips moved against hers. “And show you.”

She felt the floor under her feet disappear as he bent and used his arm around her waist to lift her up against him. Her heart exploded in a thundering rhythm as it beat against his. The room seemed to spin around her then it was as if gravity shifted pulling her body to wrap around his clinging for life as she landed on him then rolled under his body.

She turned her head to the side to see his arm shoot out throwing his sword away. She was lying on the floor on top of the purple flowered vines that had been hanging over them only a second before. It took a couple seconds for her mind to put it together that he had unsheathed his sword as he was lifting her, swung out cutting the vines, turned to take the impact of the fall then rolled her over tossing the weapon aside. 

In those two seconds of comprehension, his lips descended to kiss and nip at her jaw where his hand had been. She looked up at him as he worked toward her lips and heard his crown rolling away in the opposite direction of his sword. She fought for air as his body pressed more fully down onto hers and his eyes swam with all the tempest of a storm. 

Her ability to think coherently was swept away by the onslaught of his dominant mouth that finally found her lips again. His mouth was as ruthless as it had been soft only a moment before. 

Thranduil demanded with every press of his heated lips and probing wicked tongue. He commanded her to respond to his body’s needs with every grasp of his hands that roamed and every press of his hips that ground against the thin material that separated them. Their bodies moved together in desperate throbbing need to consume and be consumed.

Thranduil gripped her harder than he knew and heard a muffled grunt from Alyssa’s lips as she bit harder on his shoulder. He saw she appeared to enjoy it as she clutched onto him scraping her nails down the material covering his back bringing a low growl from his lips. 

He teetered on a thin line of control reminding himself that she was not an Elf, but a human who could be damaged if he went too far. 

He leaned in and smelled the scent of her hair where it came loose from the tie. Embarrassment pushed at him seeing her hair in such a state. It was not a welcoming feeling. He had not felt thusly since he first learned to use a sword. He knew the cause of the unsettling feeling was because he noticed that he was not using any of his learned skill in the art of pleasuring women and instead he had grabbed at her and was pawing and growling at her like an animal.

Thranduil moved to her lips and attempted to entice with several techniques, but lost his concentration when she bit his lip in an act of frustration. 

He secured her wrists above her head, pinned her hips under his so she could not rock against him. He then planted his hand against the vines under them as to keep said deceptive hand off of her offered breasts that were even now heaving and pressing against the green fabric of her shirt as if they were trying to get to him. He wondered if they would as she pulled on her arms trying to get them loose so she could touch him again.

He forced himself to hold still and to keep his upper body from pressing down onto her. He was going to regain control damn it. 

He watched her flushed face knowing he was the only one to blame because he had denied himself for so long that this part of him had faded. Now with her, it was very much alive and charged, and it worried him that he would sorely use her because of his own stupidity. He wanted her to know the skill of a several thousand years old Elvenking, and knew she probably expected to be overwhelmed and shocked by his ability to entice various responses from her body that she herself did not know were possible. 

He cussed himself within his thoughts for not waiting till they returned to his bedchamber where he could be more civilized…where he could perform the arts of lovemaking that usually astounded other races into incoherent blindness for weeks not acting like he was an elk in rut. 

But he didn’t want to be restrained. He didn’t want to take his time to luxuriate in the abundance of her soft curves causing titillating gasps of pleasure from her lips. He wanted her now with her grasping…no, the marks on his body reminded him that she was actually clawing and biting for more.

Alyssa couldn’t stop struggling to touch him. Her lips panted for air causing her sensitive nipples to rub against the fabric of her shirt when she would prefer them pressing against the firm muscular expanse of his chest and abdomen. Her eyes were so dilated with arousal that she had to blink a few times to focus on said perfection. After all the doubt and the wanting, to have him holding her down was in itself a treat and something she knew she would dream about later. 

He admitted to himself that he had never seen a more alluring sight and found it difficult to speak. “Who am I?” He realized the question was as much for himself as it was for her. He knew she said she forgot he was a king and he knew he was definitely not acting like one. He was grasping at anything to try to gain some type of control. 

Alyssa could barely comprehend the words and only knew she needed more. “Please.” 

He released her wrists with that one word, but was able to keep himself still. 

Her hands ran over his waist and pulled at the tight fitting silver robe that covered the muscular frame she was dying to feel with her bare hands, mouth and breasts. Her body screamed and throbbed for him like she had never felt for any other man. She felt half crazed and didn’t notice or care that her voice escaped her lips with unintelligible sounds begging for him to continue.

Thranduil used every ounce of control he possessed to deny her even as his own body trembled with her need of her and the strain of holding back. His words started as a whisper and turned into a growling moan of restrained power. “Not until you answer me. Who am I?” 

Alyssa pulled down on him, but he would not comply. She gripped him with her legs, but he refused to press against her as he had. Her mind cleared enough to let the answer escape her lips as she desperately needed him to continue. “King.” She inhaled deeply barely able to hold onto her focus. “You’re the Elvenking.”

Thranduil threatened himself as a way to try to hold onto civility while he struggled out of his robe then openly cursed it in Elvish for having to inch away from her to get it off. He managed to get his pants and boots off even quicker once he saw her trying to undo the top clasps of the green shirt he gave to her. When she fumbled with the little clasps, his hard won patience snapped.

He ripped the material apart pulling her up searching for how to get her bra off. Her lips pressed to his and her hands roamed his back as he pulled the back straps apart instead of taking the time to undo the undergarment. The material was flung aside where his own was.

He sat back on his feet pulling her half naked body with him. With his hands at her waist, he lifted her slowly enough so that his mouth closed over one hardened nipple applying light suction while flicking the end of his tongue. 

Her hands fisted in his long hair trying to hold his mouth in place even as he continued to lift her. “Damn it!” She despaired that he had changed his mind and was lifting her completely away from him.

“Stand.” His deep voice commanded just before his teeth pulled at the clasp of her pants. She was barely able to gain her footing when his head jerked to the side, and his strong hands tugged the fabric down her legs. 

Alyssa lifted one foot thinking to step out of the material when he lifted up to his knees taking her up with him and pressing her against him letting her body slide down over him. “What?” Alyssa wasn’t sure what he was doing, but she let him move her legs to wrap around his waist as he lowered down back sitting on his feet.

Their mouths joined again in a greedy war while he reached back unlocking her legs from around his waist and let her feet press down next to his. 

He pulled his mouth from hers knowing he had to ask even as his throbbing hardness was gently applying pressure against her slickness as he kneeled under her. “You want this?” He breathed in watching her eyes. “You want me?”

The thundering storm of desire in his eyes cleared momentarily and Alyssa saw hope and vulnerability in the depths of crystal blue asking her along with his words if she truly wanted him and not just his body. 

Her body still raged demanding release, but her mind cleared as if she found herself in the calm eye of the tempest they had created. She knew she could just tell him to continue and their bodies would join in a lusty bout, but their hearts would remain separate. She rested her hands on his shoulders knowing he was not just asking her to take, but he was also asking her to give.

She knew her eyes did not express the hope in his, but showed him her fear. Could she truly trust such a volatile and manipulating man with her heart? She corrected…Elvenking. 

She watched him blink slowly and when his eyes opened again the hope and joy had started to turn to desolation and pain. It wrenched her heart more than anything else ever had. And as her hand slid from his shoulder to his face, she knew she could hold nothing back from him. “Yes.”

Alyssa watched his eyelids flicker in shock then a radiant smile break like morning sun across his face far more captivating than the wonders of the world. 

In the back of her mind, she knew this was part of him that was passed on to his son. It was a part that had been in hiding, and she smiled back unable to resist his infectious demeanor. 

The glances between them only took moments, and it was far more intimate than anything Alyssa had ever experienced. It was as if they had lived an entire day in that moment. Shared promises. Whispered secrets. As if they had a lengthy conversation. As if their hearts joined into one.

She saw the carefree expression on his face turn into something more wicked. With that flash of a hungry glance, she knew they had passed out of the eye of the storm and the waves of passion slammed against them. The strength of his arms lowered her slowly inch by inch as she cried out from the delectable pressure of him pressing inside. 

He watched her closely completely obsessed with her every gasp and moan till their eyes locked when she was finally sitting firmly down in his lap. He became lost in her emerald eyes as he used his toned and flexible body to work them toward the wave that would break across the shore and shatter the storm. 

Alyssa was equally drawn into his hypnotizing eyes even as she flexed and strained against him….with him. She didn’t know how she could have ever complained about his intensity as his arms moved around circling her and as he moved inside her. He completely consuming her so that she held onto him trusting he would save her from drowning in the waves. In those next minutes that passed, he was everything in her existence. Her anchor. Love. Temptation. Male perfection. 

They rocked together giving and taking more than they had before. Lips pressing and souls entwining. Connected together far more than on any physical realm. The bond strengthened as he held her so she had no choice but to drowned in his eyes as she found her release with wave after wave of trembling muscle that quickly flung him with her on the waves toward the tranquil shore. 

He lay them down and pulled her tight against him as her heart slowed and her eyes mostly closed in a throbbing near state of slumber. She felt warm and safe as she ran her fingers over his long hair and fell asleep with her head on his chest listening to his heart slow to match the pace of her own. 

In that moment just before consciousness slips away, both had peace not knowing it would not last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the chapter when I wrote about Thranduil and Legolas made me cry, and I had to keep wiping at my face as I wrote it. I don’t even know where that came from. I guess seeing that Legolas has the capability for happiness leads me to believe that when his mother was alive things were different between him and his father. I guess this was my way of making it better. hehehee But I gave myself a headache in the process. LOL. The second half of hotness? It fixed everything else, so Thranduil can destroy it later. Hehehehheeeee Admit it. You know he is going to panic when he realizes he has tied himself to a human and other Elves notice it. heheheee


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A visitor must disturb them cliché and Thranduil must mess things up because after all he is complicated and he does not know how to just be happy. But first, I give you more hotness. Heheheheee I watched different versions of The Hobbit vids on youtube to the song Radioactive and clips of Lee Pace before and while writing this chapter. And I have to say, these dominant men (Thranduil, Thorin, Aragorn, Elrond…) of Middle Earth who wield life and death with the thrust of a sword or a command in their kingdom keep this observer in awe.

Thranduil woke after an hour and toyed with her dark hair wondering if he should let her sleep or wake her up. He finally inched out from underneath her and left her sleeping on her stomach with the side of her face resting on her hands. 

He retrieved her plate that still held food and set it a foot in front of her on the vines. He then held his hair up in one hand and stepped into one of the fountains. He lay back in the water but let his neck and head be supported on the rim before tossing his hair back to keep it dry. 

He floated naked in the warm water for a time and half closed his eyes letting the gentle glowing plant’s reflections lull him. It had been a long time since he literally did nothing, and he welcomed it. 

When he climbed out, he ran his hands down over the contours of his body to get some of the water droplets off his skin then went in search of his pants. He determined that he would go to the door and get a guard to find out if Legolas had returned with her nourishment that he considered a dead charred carcass. 

He stopped several feet away from her and had to turn back to her. He wasn’t even aware of what he was doing as he stepped forward and leaned against a white marble column and propped his foot on a brick at the base. His eyes roved over the contours of her body well aware that she was more voluptuous than Elven women. He clenched his hands thinking that the perfect roundness of her ass begged to be kneaded and grabbed. 

In her sleep, she sighed a very feminine sound of bliss and shifted rubbing her legs together. 

Thranduil shifted and flexed to move forward as his shaft swelled pointing out his body’s temptation. He grit his teeth then whispered to himself in Elvish with his eyes closed and his head bowed. “You will remain in control.” 

Closing his eyes was a mistake because now he became more aware of his hardness pulsing. He felt an increase of his heart rate, so that his lips parted to draw in more air. He smiled remembering that she said she was not use to life and death every hour on the hour and wondered wickedly if she would prefer his body’s worship in its place per hour. 

He heard a rustle of vines and did not lift his head, but only his eyes as they opened with the power of his hunger and will to claim flashing out like a predator. He knew if she moved even an inch away in shock from him that he would pounce and devour. He would chase and claim. 

What he saw was not what he expected. Her eyes were molten jade globes that ate up every inch of his body expressing sensual knowledge of what it felt like to experience every last inch of him. 

Alyssa watched him standing with reflections wavering over his body as her greedy hand had only an hour ago. Her eyes roved over the black pants that hung low on his hips and appeared to be slightly tugged down on one side. Unbidden her tongue ran over her bottom lip as she fantasized about tracing her tongue in that particular area. 

She arched her back then lifted her upper body supported by her forearms so he could view the swell of her breasts that even now ached to be touched. It was a new sensation to her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to rub slowly and gently toying with the hardened tips with the flick of his tongue like he did before or if she needed him to press and claim with hands and mouth. 

When he did nothing but blink once, she decided to show him what she wanted. She grabbed one breast and lifted angling her head down while still keeping her eyes on his. She had to tip her head to the side to keep the predator’s eyes in sight as she darted out her tongue and flicked a few times over her taught nipple. 

Thranduil started forward with a sway of hip and ran a hand over the hardness he wished to offer to her knowing that she had spoke before about the way he walked while gripping his sword handle. 

When he stopped half way to her and removed his pants slowly, she remembered watching the Hobbit and how when he circled the Orc he would behead that his hand moved down near his sword causing her to play it back over and over. Here now with him stepping out of his pants, she knew he remembered her words about gripping his sword and that she had thoughts of his naked body. 

He was doing this for her. He was displaying himself for her enjoyment. She relished the power of it as even now he moved with the Elven grace of a battle hardened warrior toward her…desiring her. 

She lay still as he circled her while speaking in his native tongue. “Lle naa vanima.” 

Alyssa had no idea what he was saying, but wanted to hear more. She knew he wanted her to acknowledge who he was and that she wanted him, so she complied without the need for him to request it. “Keep going. And touch me. My Elvenking.”

Thranduil moved behind her speaking slowly in Elvish as he tied his hair back at the nape of his neck while she watched over her shoulder. He reached down and broke one of the glowing plants and poured some of the green glowing oil inside onto his hand. He stepped closer to her and rubbed the oil over his impressive hardness which left traces of glowing green.

She visibly trembled with anticipation as he stepped over her and lowered straddling her while she still lay on her stomach. His hard length rested in line with her ass as he stopped speaking. She pressed back against him as best she could savoring the heated slide of skin. 

He spoke so she could understand. “Lay still.” When she complied, he whispered in his ancient and mesmerizing language words of praise to her body.

She tried to relax and wait for him to move her so he could slide inside. She wanted to feel him again and hear his groans in response to her. What he did next was not even in her list of things she guessed he might do.

His oiled hands massaged up her lower back taking their time to work out every area of tension. He moved up to her shoulders with such skill that her body felt as if she relaxed into a state of floating. 

“Yes.” She whispered as he leaned forward to pay attention to her arms for a time. This was no ordinary massage she was sure when his hardness began to trace against her skin as he moved lower on her body. He rubbed and kneaded till she couldn’t even find the will to look back at him when his mouth started assisting by worshiping the areas behind her knees as his hands continued to work. 

He moved up her body crawling over her and kissed her lower back running his full lips up her spine till he was at the back of her neck. He lowered himself against her, but kept the bulk of his weight off of her. He slowly laved his tongue over her neck and started whispering in Elvish about his adoration of her selfless heart and the way he felt bound to her. 

Thranduil held her like that for a time till she started moving under him. He slid his hand under her face and gently tilted her while he angled over her so that they could kiss again. The soft pliant lips he found enticed him to keep things languid like the drip of the glowing oil that traced down their heated skin. 

Alyssa’s half closed eyes sought his as she spoke. “Take me.”

Thranduil grinned back as he gently slid his body over hers keeping his movements subtle. “Where to?” He pretended not to understand.

She tried to turn over to show him what she meant, but he ground against her keeping her in place. A light giggle almost entirely made of air escaped her lips. “I mean I want you sliding inside me like your hands moved on me.”

He then kissed her using his lips then tongue to seduce and explore as if it were the most important thing he had ever done and was willing to dedicate study to its perfection. He left her mouth and spoke near her ear so that a light caress from his breath fanned out over her ear and neck. He whispered using inflection in his deep voice to intone the pleasure he felt at continuing to grind against her. “How was that my gem?” 

She wasn’t able to respond for a time, but only took deep breaths feeling every inch of where his body gently moved over her. She finally whispered back when he nibbled at her shoulder. “Wonderful like heaven, but that’s not what I meant.”

He grinned against her shoulder finding in teasing her he found his own control. “You didn’t mean wonderful? Pray tell what did you mean?” When he said wonderful and the word mean, he lengthened his thrusts. 

Her words escaped in a sigh as she arched against him. “I…uhhh…”

“You what? You want me to leave you to more slumber? Are you tired?” He shifted his weight onto his arms and slid his legs on the outside of hers pressing her legs together. “Here something to eat before you sleep.” 

He moved again and reached for her plate taking a small piece of fruit and when she opened her mouth to say no that she wanted him to stay he ran it over her bottom lip. “Take a bite. It blends very well with the mint of the oil.” He knew that last part was a double meaning.

She obliged then watched him eat the other half letting the juice drip down his fingers. “I don’t want to sleep. I want you.”

He shifted more to her side and used the hand that held the fruit to reach under her hips. “I believe you. And, you should know that when this particular fruit juice mixes with the oil that I rubbed all over the both of us, it has a very interesting reaction on certain areas of the body.”

Thranduil scrutinized her face savoring the reaction as his fingers moved between her legs into her folds with a gentle circular slide. Her eyes glazed over as her lips parted with trembling breaths. She pressed her face to her hands and ground her hips against his hand. 

He held his hand still. “Stop moving.” When she held perfectly still and panted, his fingers moved again. “Do you enjoy the heightened sensitivity the oil and juice creates?”

In her moans, he heard words form. “Yes mmmmm yes.”

“Yes.” He agreed as he slid his fingers farther and inside her hearing her moans deepen. “I want you too.” 

He shifted again pulling her leg farthest away up and over his legs so he turned her on her side. He worked his two fingers inside her finding the area he knew she would enjoy and felt her body react to the stimulation. He then moved his fingers in a come here movement for a period of time till she burst and clenched his fingers in release.

“What was that?” She gasped. “What the hell was that? That was…I’ve had g-spot orgasms before, but not like that.” 

He didn’t answer her that he knew in fact that it was the best place to start if she wanted multiple releases. 

He moved her back onto her stomach. He straddled her again keeping himself on his knees with them place on either side of her hips while pressing his feet against her knees to hold them together. “I told you…interesting reactions. Here is another.” 

He lowered his hand to the vines beside her shoulder and used the other to guide himself inside her where she still quaked. His hand let go and moved up gripping her ass for a moment in the way he wanted to earlier. 

Thranduil took his time slowly working himself inside her heat. He moved himself a little lower then a little higher on her body changing the angle till he found a couple that she reacted to the strongest. 

Alyssa couldn’t believe the sensations flooding over her body as the Elvenking moved over her and kissed her shoulders. The bud between her legs felt as if it were vibrating and after several slow sliding thrust he would change his position and work faster before moving back to the gentle maddening side. Reverberations of his movements rippled over her entire body like a stone being dropped in a calm pond. 

He touched her with such care and gentle kisses that were in vast contrast to the way it had been before. She felt herself lost in the sensations of her body and those in her heart. The words were out before she knew she was saying them. “I love you.”

His voice responded in kind with a tone of awe and reverence. “Amin mela lle.”

It was the only Elvish phrase she knew…he had repeated her own words back to her.

She lifted her upper body onto her elbows and twisted to meet his lips that were already lowering to hers as he sank his length to the hilt. He moved his arm under her chest and his hand up to her neck to hold her more comfortably in place so she would not tire.

He lessened the pressure of his mouth as he whispered moving his lips over hers. “Amin naa tualle.”

She spoke back. “What does that mean?”

He started moving inside her again and reached his hand under her stroking her at the same time wanting her to fully enjoy what he felt in his heart. And, he wasn’t able to hold back when he saw her love for him radiating from her face. “I am your servant.” A couple of tears trailed down his cheeks as he let her see his emotions. 

Alyssa understood she wasn’t the only one feeling the ripples of the pond that was even more meaningful and powerful than the tempest of the sea they rode before. The storm had brought them together clinging to each other, but the ripples in the pond were now echoing through all eternity. Their hearts beat at the center, and they were moving forward as one no matter what direction they traveled in.

He lifted keeping her back tightly against his chest. With his hands and arms clasping her to him, she reached up and back running her fingers over his hair and his pointed Elven ear. She tipped her head wanting to continue to watch the love and rapture that mingled together. When the pleasure from his body overtook her, it was as if the pond had been filled to the brim and it ebbed over the top sending her falling like the stone that was dropped knowing it would cause yet another reaction to start and overfill. 

Her body that was slowly brought to fulfillment now burned with need that begged a more forceful release. Before she had needed him loving and gentle, but right now she yearned for the half clothed Elvenking she found when she woke up. She jerked her body against him demanding more. “My king, I need more.”

When she heard the change in his voice as it turned from a gasping moan into a growl of power, she knew the predator was back and unleashed. He thrust as he used his arms to pull her down over him burying deep inside that tore pleasure filled screams from her throat as his rhythm gave her exactly what her body craved. 

A loud pounding on the door was followed by yelling. “Thranduil! We need to speak to you. Kill whoever it is later. Open the door.”

The sound took him by surprise, and he almost lost his balance. His relaxed grip had Alyssa pulling away from him in frustration. She stood over him on wobbly legs not knowing if she should pounce on him or hurriedly find her clothing. The frustration and annoyance showed on her face.

More pounding sounded at the door. It was as if someone was using a Dwarven hammer and was actively trying to break it down.

Thranduil leaned back laying flat on the vines thinking he would finish with his lady then go kill whoever was at the door. The idea greatly appealed to him as a wicked and deadly grin broke out over his face.

From the look on Alyssa’s face when she climbed on top of him, he thought she might want to help him with the killing. He finally found his voice as she lowered herself over him. “Damn you. You can wait!” His eyes rolled back as more growling escaped his lips as the sensations her clenching slickness drove him mad.

She rode him hard taking everything she needed as his hands lifted to her hips to help her. She thought he was going to move her away because the pounding at the door started again. She couldn’t have that. 

“No you’re not!” She grabbed his arms and pinned one over the other onto his chest then used them as leverage to push back grinding on him. 

Because she gripped his arms, he bent his knees pressing his feet down and thrust up to meet her. His ragged groans of growing hunger mingled with hers. 

More pounding as the man on the other side of the door called out again. “Thranduil! You are ridiculously late for our appointment.” He pounded on the door a couple more times. “I know torturing and killing takes up so much of your time, but you really need to keep your appointments. We are not waiting half the day like last time. I will break down this door if you do not come and open it.”

Thranduil pulled his arms loose from Alyssa causing her to dig her nails into his chest. He gripped her hips lifting her higher and helped her slam against him driving him home. “Damn you I am coming!” 

The thrust after his last word send Alyssa screaming out her pleasure as her body came apart splintering in all directions. Thranduil rolled her over working his hips desperate to follow her. He found himself plunging into her to the beat of the pounding at the door. He worked feeling the end as he roared with equal measure to the explosion of pleasure that erupted out of his body causing him to collapse completely lifeless on top of her. 

Her words quickly followed. “I can’t breathe.” 

He managed to roll to his side. “Neither can I.” 

They both lay gasping for air as they trembled with aftershocks that moved all over their bodies. 

Alyssa gasped out thinking each time it got better and better. “It’s not possible…to feel orgasms…down to the ends…of your hair.”

Thranduil tried to sit up and failed the first time before he regained his equilibrium. He held out his hand grasping hers and lifted her against him. “Yes it is.”

“I mean I felt it…but no it’s not possible.” She pressed a hand to her chest trying to control her breathing. 

He stood up lifting her into his arms thinking himself quite heroic as he took a few steps to lower them into the warm water of a deep fountain. He held onto her so she wouldn’t fall under. “Why do you think Elves grow their hair so long?”

She submerged shaking her hair out then surfaced with his help. She rubbed a hand over her skin to get the green glow off of her arm as she contemplated what he said. “No. Really?”

Thranduil chuckled shaking his head no and Alyssa started giggling wrapping her arms around his neck when the door burst open.

The chuckling and giggles slowly faded as they faced an angry Elrond. 

The grumpy looking Elven Lord dropped his jaw in shock at what he saw. Alyssa could have swore it was the same face he made when Merry and Pippin ran into the secret meeting they were not invited to in Rivendell. 

Legolas came trotting up beside him and skid to a stop as to not enter the room. His voice was quiet. “I told you in the looking glass he was…busy today.”

Elrond confirmed the statement while thinking over all the sounds he heard before the door opened. “Very busy.” 

Both men at the door stared at the couple in the fountain noticing the claw marks on Thranduil’s chest till she pulled his arm lowering him some.

Alyssa had no idea what to say when behind them Celeborn strode up. “Is he done killing whoever it was?” He almost bumped into Legolas as his eyes widened wondering where all the dead bodies had gone to so quickly. It took him a second to understand what he was seeing. “By the sea and stars!”

Alyssa noticed that Thranduil’s expression changed from a blank stare to killing edge, so she knew she had to speak and say something. “We were ummm decorating and fell into the fountain.” She paused remembering that they didn’t have clothing on and shook her head. “Or something like that.”

Their heads all turned as one to the side seeing a sword and ripped clothing. They then glanced to the other to see the Mirkwood crown on the floor then a large pile of vines that glowed bright green. 

Elrond took pity on her. “Something like that. Right.” He cleared his throat nudging Celeborn and tugged Legolas’ sleeve. “We will wait out here then all of us can…talk.” He moved them off to the side.

When they moved down the hall a little ways, Alyssa tried to climb out and almost drown herself till Thranduil helped her out of the water. “Go slowly.” 

Alyssa slid a few times, but made it to her clothing. Her words came out in a rush as she pulled her pants over her wet legs and fought with the clasp. “Yes, that’s how this started. Slow then it got so very heated and fast.”

“Alyssa.” He held his hand out to silence her as he pulled on pants and boots. 

“No, stop that. I’m not complaining about the last part. I mean I’m the one that jumped you and started grinding away.” She waved a hand in the air before she reached over grabbing her green shirt. 

Thranduil whispered using almost all air. “Alyssa. They can hear you. There is no denying this now.”

She froze with only one arm in her shirt. “I ummm. It’s ok.” She kept her voice the same volume thinking that if she got quiet all at once that they would start wondering what she was whispering. She shook her head thinking it couldn’t get worse, and she put her other arm in the shirt. 

She held it together and blinked at it. “I don’t know how to snap this shirt together.”

Because she kept her voice at the same level, he spoke the same as her. “I broke the clasps off of Legolas’ shirt when I ripped it off of you my gem.” He inspected the shirt seeing that only one clasp worked now.

She gasped putting her hand over her mouth. “I can’t believe you. I kissed him while I was drunk and in your bed then the next morning you give me his shirt to wear?”

“They were his clothes from when he was young. They fit. How was I to know as soon as you left my bedchamber you would go straight way to find him?” Thranduil’s voice took on a sharp edge. He admitted to himself that he was enjoying sparing with her while she waved her hands causing her shirt to gape open.

“Because of all the blood and broken shit on the floor. I thought you hurt him.” She folded her arms not knowing that it pushed her breasts together and gave him a better view. 

 

Legolas stood with the other men listening to everything that was said. 

Celeborn leaned forward. “You let her kiss you?”

“She drank straight strong wine.” Legolas offered it as an excuse.

The Elves nodded at him and Elrond responded knowing it had two meanings. “Did you give it to her?”

“No, I did not.” Legolas glanced between them knowing he sounded defensive.

Celeborn couldn’t let it go. “Why were you in the Elvenking bedchamber with her while she was drunk?”

Legolas shook his head looking down. “There was a fire and a woman in his room. I went in and tried to see who she was. She kissed me and he entered and saw. It was harmless.”

“He had a fire going in his room? Strange tidings indeed.” Elrond folded his arms raising his eyebrows no longer annoyed that they were kept waiting yet again. “The plate of food you were just carrying that had meat on it. It was for some other human I suppose?”

Legolas blanched and shook his head no. 

Celeborn folded his hands behind his back. “Where did the meat come from?”

Legolas sat down in a chair. “I went hunting.”

“While they were…” Elrond glanced back at the doorway then at Legolas. “Decorating so vigorously?”

“I suppose so.” Legolas rubbed at his arm desperately trying not to visualize the scene.

Celeborn stared at him. “What is she to you that you risk a beheading?”

Legolas looked up at both Elves knowing he could not fully explain everything to them so he thought to keep it simple. “She is very amusing.” 

Elrond smiled and clasped his hand on Legolas’ shoulder. “Yes and I believe Thranduil thinks so too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glowing oil that tastes like mint that mixes with fruit juice to be a sexual stimulant? Ok, where do I buy it? LOL! Em…I had to put the word hammer in the story when there was knocking at the door. Miles Hammer! Can you imagine Mr. “Hammer em hard” Miles from Avatar using his…well…his hammer on the door like this? LOL! If Elrond was going to show up, then I had to have Celeborn and Legolas. I added the interrogation at the end while wondering if they started decorating again. Heheheee I couldn’t help having him yell he was coming…LOL! I thought ooh yes he is. 
> 
> Lle naa vanima = You are beautiful (what he says as he walks around her before joining her).   
> Amin mela lle = I love you (what he says after she says she loves him).   
> Amin naa tualle = I am your servant (what he whispers against her lips after they say they love each other).


	10. Hall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to work a lot, so I am writing this in parts. So I think I will start with humor before talking about the end of Middle Earth at the Dark Lord’s hands.

Alyssa glanced down at the green shirt that only had one clasp holding it closed. “At least the clasp is near my tits. Kind of lower than what I would want. Man it shows off way too much cleavage, but I don’t think there’s anything else I can do. I already took that ribbon and tied it around my waist like a belt to hold it shut there. Oh, you could give me your silver cape robe thingy.” 

The Elves outside the room listened closely for his response knowing the answer would be no. 

Thranduil tipped his head back and shrugged it on. “I most certainly will not. Besides it is too long for your arms and it will drag the ground.”

“It drapes out in the back when you wear it.” Alyssa put her hands on her hips.

“Yes, thank you.” Thranduil swirled it with a flourish. “It was designed for a certain amount to be that way, not half of the material. It would be ruined.”

“Ok fine. I guess because I’m a human they won’t find it strange that I’m dressed like a hooker since you guys think so lowly of us anyway. Alright. I’m ready. Let’s go.” Alyssa turned for the door.

“Wait. You should remain here and we will conduct business. And what pray tell is a hooker?” Thranduil strode up next to her and secured his crown in place.

Alyssa stopped a few feet from the door and lowered her voice more thinking they could not hear, but she was wrong. “A prostitute.” 

Thranduil just blinked at her not understanding.

“A umm lady of the night, whore, tramp, slut, call girl, working girl, hoe, pro, harlot…concubine, courtesan…any of these ringing a bell?”

Thranduil blanched. “I believe I know what you are talking about, but I have never acquired their services to ring my bells.” 

Alyssa laughed. “No. When I say something does not ring a bell it means that it is not making a connection in my memory. When you hear something and all of a sudden it makes sense that is like a bell ringing. Ding ding Ding like light going off…understanding. It’s just a saying. And women like that don’t ring bells they suck, lick or rub them. And while we’re on the subject, I’ve never heard what they do as ringing someone’s bells but probably a better phrase would be umm tea-bagging. No, just forget about that. An easier phrase that probably means more of what you meant is blow job.”

Thranduil tipped his head trying to understand everything she said. “Blow as in air?”

“No, blow as in ummmm fellatio. Uuuummm it’s a vulgar way to say oral sex for a guy.”

Alyssa glanced over his face seeing that he still did not understand and probably would not get any technical words because medical doctors were a lot different from healers here. She continued to talk with her voice down and hoped some slang translated. “bob on a knob, give head, suck dick, deep throat, hummer…Why is this so difficult? I know…you guys have different words for it. Ummm ok you get hard right then a woman uses her mouth to get you off.” 

“Off of what?” Thranduil inched closer having no idea what she meant and part of his problem was that fact that half her breasts were showing. 

Alyssa held her hands up in the air knowing in her wildest dreams that she never thought she would have to try to explain blow jobs to an ancient Elf of Middle Earth. “You. Get you off. Ummm. You know how I climbed on top of you and rode you like a jockey well picture that but with me using my mouth instead.” Alyssa smiled seeing that his expression changed.

Thranduil gasped in air at the shock and scandal of it. He instantly heard Elrond out in the hall start choking violently on what Thranduil guessed was a glass of wine. 

“What? Do you get it?” Alyssa hoped the expression meant he understood.

“No my lady. I have never had that particular type of activity. You shock me speaking so.” Thranduil tugged on his silver robe as if he were trying to cover more of his body and adjusted his sword. 

“Never?” Alyssa moved closer and didn’t notice he moved back. “Like ever?”

He shook his head no hearing Celeborn clearing his throat out in the hall. 

“Well, let’s have this meeting and talk about the end of the world then I’ll take care of that for you.” Alyssa smiled knowing that she would pull out all the stops. “You keep glancing at my tits, so we can get them in the show too.”

Thranduil glanced down at her chest then up to her mouth. He felt light headed as if he might faint. His reaction made him angry, but the confusion pushed it away.

“You don’t get that either…um…like this.” Alyssa ran two fingers under her shirt so they stuck out between her breasts then lowered her head flickering her tongue then lowered her mouth over her fingers because she didn’t want to spend an hour trying to explain it to him.

Thranduil stepped backwards against a chair. He stumbled over it almost falling into the floor. 

“Oh my gawd are you ok?” Alyssa lunged forward and grabbed his arm. 

“I…I…believe we should talk about this later.” Thranduil stood up and straightened his clothing trying not to look at her. 

“Yes, we need to get out there. It’s rude to have them sitting there bored to death. 

Thranduil followed her not mentioning that they had probably heard everything. “Wait. I will give you my robe.”

“There’s no time for that. This wouldn’t look so bad, but I’m not shaped like the twelve year old boy these clothes were made for.” Alyssa stomped out of the room in her black boots and pants with her breasts barely restrained by the shirt. “Let’s hope I don’t have any further wardrobe malfunctions.” 

Thranduil turned the corner into the hall and forgot how to walk. He gripped the doorframe as his eyes slid from her cinched waist that was belted by a ribbon down to her rounded ass that was swaying with each step. He thought about how she rode him and what her skin felt like that was now wrapped tightly in black cloth. 

Alyssa didn’t hear him walking and stopped turning back to him. She saw his eyes move from her lower body up to her face. She took a breath of irritation as a confused and stupid grin widened on his face. “Stop staring at my ass and come on.”

He lunged forward kicking at his robe and caught up as she started forward again. 

He reminded himself that he was the one that was supposed to seduce her into losing the ability to think and not the other way around. One glance let him know that Celeborn was not happy in the least, Elrond was amused and Legolas stared at her then turned to inspect the wall appearing as confused as Thranduil felt. 

When they reached the group, Alyssa told herself not to try to tug her shirt together because she might accidently undo the clasp and then it would look intentional. Instead, she smiled glancing at the men and noticed that Elrond had some wine on his brown formal jacket. 

Thranduil stood next to her knowing that because the appointment was held in his kingdom that he was supposed to take charge. The problem was that he couldn’t even remember why they were meeting. He closed his mouth when he noticed that his jaw was hanging open. He swallowed and blinked trying to no avail to remember what he was supposed to do or say. He knew he was being utterly ridiculous, but couldn’t help himself.

Alyssa saw all the men staring at Thranduil and decided she should say something because he wasn’t. “It’s good to see all of you. I know you have a meeting to go over important things, but first I need a few minutes of your time. There is something that I think I should tell you. I may not be able to go into a lot of detail, but I think I can mention a few things that might help your decisions be a little easier. Is there a room where we could go where no one will hear us talking?”

When Thranduil just kept sill, Legolas stood up and motioned them down the hall. 

Alyssa tugged at Thranduil’s sleeve the whispered. “What’s wrong with you?”

“You.” Thranduil followed Legolas into a chamber and stood at the door to close it once everyone was inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit it, I wanted him flustered in front of the others so that later he can be angry about it. Humor feeds later angst.


	11. Reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When someone is speaking Elvish, it will be in italics. I originally intended this to be the second part of ch 10. NASA? Who said NASA?

Legolas held a chair for Alyssa. She sat down in front of a circular table that appeared to be a dinner table. She wanted to sit closer to Thranduil, but didn’t know if that was proper.

Alyssa decided Thranduil had appeared to regain some of his senses as his head tipped back and he was peering down his nose at everyone. He paused to adjust his cloak before sitting down on a golden chair.

Celeborn sat on his left and Elrond sat to his right in similar chairs. There was a low stone table in the middle.

Alyssa noticed their chairs were about four or five feet apart and angled so that Elrond faced Celeborn. It unnerved her that even though Thranduil was facing her from about twenty feet away, he would not look directly at her. 

She turned to ask Legolas if she should leave and come back when it was her turn to talk, but he ducked out of the room. 

Instead, they sat there in silence with Celeborn appearing solemn, Elrond smiling as if greatly amused and Thranduil by all accounts was annoyed and bored at the same time. 

Legolas returned holding a plate with food on it and his other hand held a goblet. He briskly moved to her and set it on the table in front of her. “Lady Alyssa, I thought you would be hungry, and they’ll be arguing for hours.”

Alyssa was sitting sideways in her chair so she could see Thranduil and instantly moved to sit forward. She knew he could see her profile even though he was not looking at her. She even sat up straighter knowing if her grandmother were in the room that she would not approve of slouching in front of royalty. She took her arm off the table and tipped her head forward. “My thanks, Prince Legolas Greenleaf.” 

She didn’t know where those words came from, but guessed it was the waves of Celeborn’s disdain for her presence that was making her feel as if she were in a formal dining room instead of some type of marble and stone meeting room. 

Legolas bowed briefly. “My pleasure my Lady.”

When he turned, she noticed he did not bring any silverware. She picked up the goblet and admired the diamond inset. She took a sip tasting berries and decided it was juice. She set it down and folded her hands in her lap.

Alyssa now had no view of the men sitting of to her left and was being tormented by the appetizing smell of freshly cooked food. She glanced down seeing what appeared to be purple herbed potatoes, something that resembled green beans that had red stripes. Her mouth watered at what could have been a slice of roast with gravy. 

She didn’t want to grab at her food like a Dwarf, which she suspected would further amuse Elrond, so she sat, smelled the food, and drank her juice. 

She glanced over thinking maybe she could get Legolas’ attention while the other Elves murmured in Elvish. All of them were watching her but Thranduil. 

Legolas smiled looking at her then the plate. He stood behind his father’s chair with his hand resting on it.

Thranduil barked something out in Elvish. 

Legolas jerked then glanced back and forth. He quickly sat next to Elrond then tipped his head to look at her with a question in his eyes. 

She tipped her head to the plate and mouthed the word silverware having no idea the only thing the men had talked about so far was the fact she was not eating the food. 

Celeborn sat back with a sigh flicking his hand to the side letting it be known to the other Elves that nothing would be accomplished until the human was dealt with. He spoke low and in Elvish. “Deal with her Thranduil. She is your…decorator.” 

Thranduil’s voice boomed out with an ice cold edge as he spoke her language. “What is it?”

Alyssa felt the weight of his anger and lowered her head. “I can’t eat…” She tried to add without silverware, but he cut her off. 

“Try putting it in your mouth.” Thranduil seethed.

If he had said this earlier when they were alone, she would have joked with him that what he said sounded sexual. There was no way she was going to say it now. She didn’t know what had changed other than they were now in front of other rulers. She reminded herself of what she saw in the Hobbit movies concerning him and kept her mouth closed. She told herself that he was a great Elvenking, and she was after all a nobody human here in this place of refined beauty. 

The reality of it and the way he was speaking sank in, and she wanted to leave the room. His ability to go from hot to cold was giving her whiplash. 

She had no idea that Elrond’s next words were in her defense because he was speaking Elvish. “If you upset her then of course she cannot eat. Besides what is she to eat with, her hands? Maybe she should just stick her face in the plate.”

Legolas stood up knowing now that she was tormented at seeing and smelling nourishment she could not partake of and the fact that his father was now in a very bad mood. 

Celeborn shook his head once and whispered in Elvish. “He hunts for her. He serves her food. Kissed her. What next? He is going to fetch for her? Are you? She’s a human.”

Thranduil was speechless. It wasn’t something that happened often. He knew how it would appear to Elrond and Celeborn. He was having a dalliance with a human, which was unheard of even for the lowest cast of Elf. On top of that, his own son appeared to be vying for her attention by catering to her like a servant. He himself had offered his robe after she asked for it. 

Thranduil wanted her. He needed her in his life, but his pride had taken too hard a blow. A haughty façade spread over his features. His blue eyes shimmered with all the warmth of the arctic, and he held perfectly still as if he were an ice sculpture. 

Elrond shrugged then spoke in Elvish watching them all as if it were a play for his amusement. “I think she shows remarkable restraint. She has probably been starved since her arrival or only given shall I be polite and say fruit? If I were human, I would have eaten with my hands by now. Just being honest.”

Legolas moved toward her.

Celeborn inclined his head speaking in Elvish, “This is intolerable. Is Legolas her pet then? If so, what does that make you Thranduil? Her toy perhaps?”

Thranduil spoke to Legolas in English, “You will not leave this chamber again because of her.”

Alyssa was thankful that at least he spoke where she could understand. She lowered her head more and guessed that maybe Legolas’ attention to her and her response had made Thranduil remember the kiss. She hoped that was all it was.

Legolas pulled a knife out and walked to her. He set it on the table then raised his eyebrows.

She nodded in reply. It would do. 

Elrond shook his head and spoke where she could understand, “You must forgive me. Why did you not just use your hands when no utensils were presented?” 

Alyssa drained her drink and reached for a pitcher that had already been on the table. “What and eat like a Dwarf and throw a roll past your head? At least it looked like a roll, but no my grandmother’s voice is in my head.” Alyssa cut a small piece of the meat and slowly raised it to her mouth with the knife noticing her coordination was off. 

Elrond almost stood up, but leaned forward instead. It was completely lost to her that he was now serious. “How do you know about that?” 

Alyssa blundered on. “I was barely fifteen when I stayed with my grandparents for Christmas at the Governor’s Mansion. You see my grandfather Preston was a governor. Umm our country is divided up into states and a governor rules a state so to speak. Our state has about six to nine million people. Internet doesn’t work here obviously, so I can’t get exact numbers. Anyway, at the last minute we were invited to the White House. The President who rules our whole country invited them, and they inquired about me. They said yes. So off we go with only four hours notice to the capital and we dined with a couple foreign leaders. I made the monstrous mistake of reaching for the wrong fork. My grandmother never to her dying day let me live it down. It became more of a joke. After that, I waited on everyone else before I did anything. So, no I’m not going to use my hands to eat in front of royalty when using the wrong fork with the wrong food item was treated as if I ate like a Dwarf and danced on the table singing throwing food.”

Alyssa leaned to the side and blinked a few times then managed to stab a piece of potato and put it in her mouth.

Elrond scooted to the edge of his chair. “How do you know what happened that day in Rivendell?”

“How do I not know? Wait. Did you know that Bilbo and Thorin were listening to you talk to Gandalf about Thorin’s family issue with gold sickness? The barrel thing was fun, but you weren’t there for that. Legolas was. He jumped from the top of one of their head to another shooting the bad guys. Elrond you know you shouldn’t try to separate them or make her think there is no hope. She’s your daughter and she loves him. Don’t be like Thrandy when he went all don’t give him hope where there is none…let them make their own decision.” Alyssa took the glass of juice again and smelled it.

Legolas sprinted to her. The goblet was out of her hand in a second. “You mustn’t drink anymore.”

Celeborn turned on Thranduil. “She comes from a family of rulers? You chose to keep that from me? Is she really a human? Is she a Valar here under the guise of being human? The last time that happened, it didn’t go well for me.”

Legolas turned to his father who was watching him. “I did it this time. I had no idea when I sent for a glass telling them it was for the meeting that they thought it was for you. I gave her wine.”

Elrond stood facing Alyssa. “Who am I trying to separate?”

She smiled at him remembering her old crush on him. “Your daughter from her one true love, but wait that hasn’t happened yet. I shouldn’t have said that. What’s wrong with me?”

“Legolas gave you wine. Stop talking or you could change the future.” Thranduil ordered.

Celeborn was oblivious to everything they were saying and believed he knew now why Thranduil had let her stay in the meeting. He wondered if she was spelled to appear as a human, but was really some other powerful race or even a lesser god come to visit. It had happened once before very long ago. “Lady Alyssa if you are a peer you should present your full name and designation upon meeting with Elven rulers. It is only proper.”

“I’m sorry.” Alyssa tried to stab a piece of food and failed. 

Thranduil waved his hand. “Legolas, get more of the herb to counter the wine.” 

Alyssa set the knife down feeling completely dizzy and starved. “I don’t have a designation. My grandfather does, but not me. I went to college and am making something of myself without my family’s help. I applied to NASA and got the job. You see I help with experiments on the impact of the microgravity environment on plant growth. I know that is so technical sounding. Here.” She pulled out her cell phone causing Thranduil to stand to his feet thinking he would have to take the devil box from her. “If nothing else, I might get to create experiments that will be in space one day.”

Alyssa held the phone out thinking one of them would come and get it to see the picture of the space station surrounded by thousands of stars. “Wait. Can you guys see this because of your super Elf eyes?”

Elrond nodded and was not able to make out any of the constellations. He then turned to Thranduil. “She is not from Middle Earth is she?”

Celeborn folded his hands standing to join the others. “And she knows the future like Galadriel does?”

Thranduil inclined his head letting them know it was so.

Legolas sprinted in with a glass in his hand. “Alyssa drink this.”

“No. I’ve had enough. I think I need to lie down or eat.” She shook her head and the room spun.

“It is not wine. It will help.” Legolas held the glass to her mouth and helped her drink a little. 

Alyssa knew that her companions would die if they could have Legolas touching their face and hands. She pushed the glass back from her mouth thinking that they would be turning green if they were watching. “Jealous.”

Elrond cleared his throat and glanced at Celeborn thinking she was meaning that Thranduil was jealous of Legolas who was touching her. “Maybe we should come back at another time.”

“No. I need to talk to you about the Lord of the Rings. You have to make decisions.” Alyssa let Legolas give her another sip. “Like not pushing her too hard to leave Middle Earth when you know there is a child and when she tells you to then you have to remake the sword that was broken. He’ll fix everything just stop beating him over the head with the fact he is a human. Lighten up. We’re not that bad.”

Thranduil strode forward taking the glass from Legolas and accidently dumped the remaining liquid down her cleavage. He swallowed fighting the urge to lick the fluid off of her now glistening breasts. 

“Stop. Are you trying to drown me? Hot then cold. Hot n cold. Perry had it right.” She thought about the song. “And you. I don’t really know what to say to you.” She pulled back from Thranduil and looked at Celeborn. “Why would you stay here when she is going to the ummm White Shores or that place where she was born? Why do you stay here when she goes with Gandalf and the ring bearer? Hell I think even Elrond goes. Even Bilbo. Wait. I think in one version you were there, but I didn’t see you get on the ship. That doesn’t matter. What matters is when the Fellowship shows up without Gandalf your guards must let them in to rest. The ring bearer must talk to Galadriel. They need to talk and she gives them gifts even if Gandalf warns not to have contact with them because of the Eye.” Alyssa felt as if a great weight had pressed down with the last few sentences she spoke then it lifted when she was done. 

Elrond and Celeborn were looking at their rings of power that had glowed when she felt the weight. They turned to her and lowered their heads a fraction. 

Her mind was so foggy she had no idea what just happened or what she said. “I need to lie down.”

“Just be silent and let the herbs work.” Thranduil gripped her arm. 

Alyssa pulled back thinking he might snap her arm in half.

He let go, and she remained quiet. 

After several minutes, everyone took their seats, but Legolas. He pulled out a fork. “I picked his up when I got the herbs. I hope it is the right one.”

She smiled and took it from him. It was only moments later when the other three Elves started speaking Elvish again. They talked over what she had said. 

Legolas sat with Alyssa as she ate. Over time, the herbs started working and she wondered what Thranduil was thinking because he was back to peering down his nose. His arctic eyes remained on her even when he was talking to the other two Elves. 

Celeborn spoke in Elvish. “She isn’t human.”

Thranduil ground his teeth then responded. “She is.”

Elrond added. “Alright, whatever she is…she isn’t from this world, and she knows about the One Ring.”

Thranduil nodded.

Elrond folded his hands. “Is she certain it is destroyed?”

Thranduil nodded again.

“What else can you tell us?”

Thranduil took a breath. “That’s all I know.”

“Who has the ring now?”

“I don’t know.”

Elrond tapped his finger. “She knows?”

Thranduil nodded not trusting himself to speak. He couldn’t bring himself to explain to them about the promise he made to her about not getting information from her. 

“Ask her?”

Thranduil shook his head no. Every question was like a hammer was being taken to his pride. He had allowed a human to manipulate him into promising not to pursue a certain line of questioning. He had allowed them to see him gaping at her body as she walked toward them in the hall, and she reprimanded him. His mind ran over a list of every minute way that she had caused him to act like anything other than the great Elvenking that he was. A domineering thought prevailed after the lengthy list; he was being controlled by a human girl. 

Elrond would not give up. “Maybe next time you are, let me say, decorating…ask her who has the ring.”

The muscle in Thranduil’s cheek twitched. 

 

Legolas wasn’t paying attention to the whispering behind him as he watched Alyssa eat. “I can help with that.”

“What? Download Elvish into my brain like this is the Matrix? I don’t see that happening.” Alyssa shook her head and stabbed a piece of meat. She brought it to her lips. Some gravy dripped off onto her lower lip and traced down her chin. No napkin in sight, she ran her finger over it then licked it off. 

 

From across the room, Thranduil watched her tongue greedily flick out and her mouth close over the end of her finger as she sucked. 

Thranduil lost his concentration again. He thought of her words from earlier about what she wanted to do to him after the meeting. His mind envisioned her mouth closing over his hardness. He let out a shuddering breath that he had been holding. 

He shook himself then noticed that Celeborn and Elrond glanced seeing what she was doing. He felt their eyes then boor into him. He knew they understood where his mind went. Their Elvish ears could hear the renewed racing of his heart. Their eyes could not miss the dilation of his eyes. 

Thranduil had no idea what they had been saying or if they asked him yet another question. He was dumb struck again. 

He watched as Legolas put his hand on her shoulder. Thranduil’s guts churned and heat flooded his body with the urge to draw his sword. He gripped the arms of the chair to force himself to stay where he was. 

Legolas leaned forward bringing his face mere inches from Alyssa’s. Thranduil pictured Alyssa leaning forward to kiss him the way she had before when she thought he was Thranduil. 

Elrond watched the chair thinking it would break soon. “Thranduil?”

Thranduil did not hear him as his ears strained to hear the lightly whispered words that Legolas was chanting. He could not understand what he was saying, but his mind offered that they were words of praise to her beauty. 

Thranduil thought over the word she spoke earlier when Legolas touched her; she said the word jealousy. It was a new emotion to him, and it burned with an intensity that took over his mind. 

 

Legolas removed his hand and spoke in Elvish. “Do you understand?”

Alyssa gasped and a broad smile took over her face. She could understand what he was saying in Elvish. “Yes!” 

Elrond leaned back in his chair. “On second thought, maybe you should have Legolas ask her the question.”

Thranduil came back to himself and understood what Elrond was implying. His dagger like words came out in Elvish and he did not know that Alyssa could understand him, “No one is going to ask her questions. She is mine. She will do whatever I say like a good little human.”

Celeborn tipped his head still not convinced she was human. “I do not believe so. She has some kind of hold over you. Is it her beauty or a spell?”

Thranduil broke one of the arms off the chair and let it drop. “No one controls me especially not some common human girl.” He didn’t like Celeborn commenting on her being attractive, so he lashed out even more. “She is human. In a hundred years, they are born and die. It is but a blink of an eye. Their beauty lasts a few years then fades. I will keep her while she is useful and pleasant to look upon then I will discard her as I have countless others. She means nothing to me, but she can believe I’m taken with her since it serves a purpose. For now.” 

Alyssa let out a breath and pressed her hand to her chest. 

All of the Elves listened as her heart skipped a beat then another. 

She gasped in air, and her heart beat again. It thundered in her chest as her peripheral vision blackened out. She struggled to maintain consciousness.

Legolas took her arm. “Lady Alyssa?”

She heard his voice and pulled herself back. “I…I…” 

Alyssa stood then stumbled. She would have fell on her face, but Legolas held firm to her arms. 

Thranduil trembled with the need to kick Legolas away from her…or drop him off a cliff…or chop off his head. His mind kept offering ways to remove his hands from her arms. No other conscious thoughts existed. He kept telling himself that he would not harm his son, but his eyes stayed fastened on where Legolas touched her. 

Thranduil was finally able to whisper out a few words where the Elves could hear. “Stop touching her.”

Elrond’s amusement caused him to lose his mind as well. “Because she is a human or because she is your human?”

Alyssa stood on her own by gripping the back of her chair. She didn’t pay any attention to Elrond, and only had eyes for Thranduil. “You don’t mean that.” She thought about his hurtful words.

Thranduil’s mind partially returned from the jealous rage. He thought about the fact that he said for no one to touch her. “I do.”

The pain of his words pierced her heart again. She thought over the short time they had together and wondered if it was all some act. After all, he was a master manipulator. She thought to herself over what was more possible…the Elvenking fell madly in love with her in this short time or he had a plan to get information he wanted. 

The broken shards of her heart froze over at the thought of him pretending to like her. “Everything that happened was fake.” She made it a statement.

Thranduil thought she meant the display that she just put on in front of him with Legolas. Anger ran over him that she was admitting that she pretended to be drunk, so that Legolas would touch her to make Thranduil jealous. 

“Then there is no point in continuing.” He was talking about the fact that she swayed causing Legolas to hover. 

Alyssa thought he meant there was no point in Thranduil pretending to be interested in her. “No.”

She watched him with all the hurt and loss in her eyes. She knew how pitiful she must appear to the others, so she let go of the chair and tried to stand on her own. 

Her leg gave out and Legolas caught her. 

Legolas helped her stand again and commented, “You may need to lay down somewhere.”

Thranduil broke off the other arm of his chair and held onto it for a few moments before it fell to the ground. He didn’t know why she was prolonging his torture. It was a slap in the face that she kept toying with his emotions and pretending frailty so that Legolas would keep grabbing onto her. He thought of Legolas’s last words and pictured Alyssa in his bed with her lips pressed to Legolas’s mouth. 

Alyssa kept her eyes on Thranduil wondering if this would be the last time she would see him. He had so completely captured her heart in a short amount of time then destroyed it, but she still loved him anyway. She didn’t want to leave. Her mind offered the thought that maybe it was a show for the other Elves. 

Alyssa took a deep breath and prepared to humiliate herself. She knew somewhere inside of him that he really did care for her. “Admit it. You care.”

Thranduil glanced at Legolas’ hand that was holding her arm. He feared if he said yes that he cared that she was being touched by another man that she was going to kiss Legolas again just to torment him. He had no idea what game she was playing, but only understood he was losing. “No.” 

Alyssa’s heart skipped another beat, and she leaned forward curling up as her eyes stared out blindly. Her hope was gone. She thought to herself that she should have seen this coming. He was the Elvenking after all. 

Legolas put his arm around her waist and held onto her. “I’m taking you to lay down.”

She nodded.

When they made it to the door, Thranduil finally spoke again. “Now what? Do you think I’m going to run after you? What exactly do you expect from me?”

She remembered his words earlier, which were similar to what he said to Thorin in his throne room about a hundred years being a blink in the life of an Elf. Anger skirted the edges of her grief. She thought everything that happened between them was a manipulation for information. Even knowing that, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him. She told herself she knew all along this was who he was. 

“What do I expect from you?” With great effort, Alyssa turned looking over her shoulder at him. “I expect you to forget me…in the blink of an eye.”

With that, she strode out the door with Legolas’ help. 

Thranduil watched after her having no idea where he went wrong. 

Elrond waited till the door shut before he spoke. “Aren’t you going to go after her?”

Thranduil contemplated it then feared if he did that it might be part of her plan. He would charge out to find her only to see her on the floor grinding against Legolas. He admitted to himself that he had no idea why she was acting the way she was. He also feared he didn’t know how far she was going to take it. 

Celeborn stood and paced believing that he was going to somehow be the one punished by the Valar. Somehow, their wrath always found a way to him. “Apologize to her.”

Thranduil found his voice. “For what?”

Celeborn stopped pacing seeing how the Valar would blame him. “I implied both you and Legolas were her playthings. Then you told her that she was your plaything. Apologize to her and make her happy then they will not hold me accountable.”

“What are you speaking of?” Thranduil turned to him.

Elrond shook his head knowing that Thranduil did not understand his folly. “Legolas spelled her to understand Elvish. She fully understood you when you said she means nothing to you and that you falsely make her believe you care.”

Thranduil could have swore he heard the ringing of bells as understanding flooded him. 

Celeborn watched him. “It nearly killed her. Didn’t you hear her heart stop?”

Thranduil stood rethinking over everything that happened since they came into the room. He played back every sentence that was said. Every reaction. Every movement. 

The door burst open and an Elven guard fell to his knees in instant supplication. “My Elvenking. She is dying.”

Thranduil lunged over the table and grabbed him off the floor so that his feet dandled. “What?”

His words could not form because he was being strangled.

“Answer me!” 

Elrond and Celeborn grabbed Thranduil’s arms lowering the guard to his feet. 

Thranduil let go and the guard fell to the floor. 

Elrond kept a hold on Thranduil and spoke to the guard. “Answer him before he kills you.”

“Lady Alyssa.” His voice choked out. “She fell. Legolas sent me to you before he want to get the healers. He said she turned red and fell. He said she said that she can’t die from a broken heart and not to bother with healers. My Elvenking, I know nothing else.”

Thranduil grabbed his arm and drug him out into the hall. The guard fought to get to his feet as he was dragged like a doll. 

Thranduil stomped along as he spoke. “Show me where she is?”

Elrond stood with Celeborn watching him disappear around a corner. 

“She will die and go back to Valinor, and I will be to blame.” Celeborn started pacing. 

Elrond smiled. “Not everything is about you. Besides, isn’t it a human saying that when you are separated from your love that you have a broken heart? It doesn’t mean their physical heart breaks.”

“I have heard them talk of the dead and say that they died of a broken heart.” Celeborn changed direction and clasped his hands behind his back. “You heard her heart stop a few times.”

Elrond raised his eyebrows. “You better send for Gandalf.”

Celeborn stopped. “You believe he can sway their wrath that will be directed toward me?”

“No, but we need to talk to him about the One Ring.” 

Celeborn went back to pacing. “I’ve never seen Thranduil behave like this.”

“He is in love.”

“There has to be something I can do to fix this.” Celeborn stopped. “How did Thranduil’s last kingdom survive his falling in love the first time?”

Elrond started pacing. “It didn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh that evil wine is at it again and what is it with the men of Mirkwood getting women tipsy? I enjoy crazy jealous Thrandy breaking things.


	12. Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happens when an Elvenking thousands of years old loses his tight grip on his control? My answer is…anything. Heheheheheheheeeee I liked the idea that men of power lose control and devour you. Book Rec: Anne Bishop’s book Dreams Made Flesh.

Gandalf leaned back from Galadriel’s looking mirror. “Oh my. It would appear the great Elvenking of Mirkwood has a new Elvenqueen, but does not know it. He has not even noticed she has started to turn into Elvenkind. And they misunderstand each other at every turn. He thought she was playing at some game only to discover after she left that she was innocent and hurt by his careless words. I don’t think she will believe anything he says now. This is worse than I first feared. They could split ways.”

“Yes, but they pledged a strong bond that will hold. Her transformation is a sign of that and so is his possessiveness toward her.” Galadriel folded her hands together. “It took debates for years till they let Legolas attend meetings, but he so easily let her into the gathering. It shows his acceptance of her even though he spoke crudely. He may be confused by his reactions, but hasn’t killed anyone because of her. It may not be as bad as you fear.”

Gandalf took a deep breath. “You saw how strong his reactions are to her especially when Legolas touched her even though there was need of it. You know better than I when an Elven Lord or King bonds by pledging themselves that the couple is left alone for a few decades to allow for jealous tendencies to subside. I believe we have need to worry because his jealously will only grow with time. Legolas is on shaky ground.”

“Thranduil has always been more intense with his emotions. True. They change direction as frequently as a breeze, but I do not think he will harm his heir.”

“Are you so sure? Surely my Lady remembers his last kingdom was left in ruin. No one thought at the time that he would destroy his kingdom over the love of one woman.” 

“I heard rumors that it was nothing but earthquakes. He could not have shook the ground and opened it up to swallow half his kingdom.” 

“Yes my Lady, he did. They were caused by his anger and the aftermath is what sent them seeking land in Mirkwood. He has more powers than he usually makes known. You may have a look if you wish.” Gandalf glanced into the mirror waiting for her. As he did, he wondered if Thranduil’s power would come in handy later on when they have to fight Mordor. 

Galadriel waved a hand over the mirror, and it reformed to show Gandalf’s memories. 

 

Gandalf turned from a tower where Thranduil’s arms were outstretched emitting blue waves of terror. Gandalf then spoke to an Elven guard. “He has lost control of his mind in some sickness. Where is Lenore? She is the only one who can tame him.”

The bloodied guard struggled to keep his footing as the tremendously large structure shook. “She has been gone these past few days. They argued and she left. He became inconsolable with bond sickness then killed any man who had touched her. The kingdom is falling apart and most have fled. That is all I know.”

 

Galadriel pulled back her power from the mirror. “You are right Gandalf. We have need to worry.”

“Perhaps I should go to them and see what may be done to keep her alive and from leaving Mirkwood.” 

Galadriel raised an eyebrow. “I think the addition of yet another man hovering would only add to his anger.”

Gandalf watched her.

Galadriel paced. “I will send thoughts to Celeborn telling him to stop fretting about the Valar and to orchestrate a removal of the male guards. It could lessen the tension. They also need to keep wine away from her.”

Gandalf pursed his lips. “And apparently Celeborn needs to have a word with Legolas because asking him why he risks a beheading was not enough of a warning. He should not follow her around like a Hobbit after honey-cake.” 

“Agreed, but I will go and speak with him myself.”

Gandalf stepped closer to her trying to think of what to say. “Tell me My Lady, how do you believe Lord Celeborn will appreciate my cowardice in letting you go in my place?”

“As you probably remember, Lord Celeborn left me to venture by myself into Moria because of his dislike of Dwarves, so I doubt he would object to you conceding this path to me.” 

“Yes, but my Lady…” 

“I will have Tauriel assist me.”

“Yes, but…”

Galadriel smiled with radiance that brightened the tranquil garden as if lighting were turned on. “Olorin,” She paused thinking of when they were children in Valinor. “Are you worried about me? I am not the little girl who once ran to you for help with a Pelóri Mountain Spriggan. Do not be afraid for me.”

Gandalf lowered his head then glanced up with all pretense of polite formality gone. “Thranduil destroyed his last kingdom when he lost his mind to the bonding sickness. I would not have you in harm’s way outside the borders of your realm. Most stories have embellishment, but this was much worse than this simple memory you saw. I will go and keep her in his kingdom till he notices that she is his Elvenqueen and calms.”

“Always the big brother.” Galadriel brushed some of his hair back knowing they were only distant cousins, but he always treated her like a sibling. “I have to admit you look ridiculous as an old man. They should have at least let you keep your brown hair.” 

“The appearance is supposed to make me appear wise.” 

“And it does, but I am still going. You may wish to help from a distance, but only from a distance.” Galadriel vanished. “I will collect a few things then travel there before the end of the day.”

Gandalf picked up his staff. “Horses, eagles…I so miss being able to travel with thought. Very well, this is my path.”

 

Tauriel ran full out down corridors and sprinted up stairs. Her only thoughts were of Galadriel’s telepathic warning. 

She heard foot falls up ahead and skid to a stop pressing a hand to a wall at the entry of a great chamber where many walkways connected. Her head turned to the right to see the Elvenking stride in dragging one of her guard behind him. 

“Where?” Thranduil demanded.

“Here. Here, my Elvenking,” The guard spoke as his boots dragged on the floor still trying to get under his body to support his weight. 

Tauriel watched as the guard was dropped. 

Thranduil stalked around staring at the floor as if he would find her hidden in the cracks. 

Tauriel held her breath as she recognized the expression on his face was the one that was usually reserved for battle. 

“Where is she now?” Thranduil’s icy voice reverberated off the walls in an echo down the corridors. 

Tauriel could have sworn she felt the ground vibrate as another guard extended his arm. 

Thranduil shoved the guard against a wall and glanced over his face. “Is she alive?”

“Ye…” The word was strangled off.

“Why did she go that way? Why was she not taken to my chamber?” Thranduil removed his hand allowing for an answer.

“My Elvenking, she wanted to check on her people. He carried her that way.”

Thranduil lifted the guard into the air by his neck shaking him. “Carried her?”

Tauriel strode forward knowing he would refocus his attention. She was use to him torturing and killing, but it was rare he directed those types of activities at his own people. “My Elvenking, Lady Galadriel will arrive shortly and wishes to speak with you.”

Thranduil released the guard and turned to her. His voice boomed out, “There will be no more meetings today. One was quite enough.” 

Thranduil left in the direction the guard had pointed out. 

Tauriel chanted over the wounds on the guard’s neck and was thankful he was not dead. When she was done, several guards surrounded her. 

“All of the male guards inside the mountain need to be switched out with females. Spread the word.” Tauriel stood to her feet.

Her second in command bowed his head a moment. “What is happening? What witchery is at work?”

Tauriel knew there was no hiding it now especially after everything that had happened. Their only salvation of braving the storm that was Thranduil was to understand that he had completely lost his ability to think rationally. “He has pledged himself and even now has a bond. It appears we have a new Elvenqueen.”

Gasps surrounded her. 

He continued. “Who?”

Taruiel straightened even more. She thought about the fact that Thranduil told her not to long ago that she was not to give Legolas hope that they could have a relationship. She still felt the ache that she was not acceptable because she was not the right kind of Elf. It only twisted cutting deeper because he, the Elvenking, had now feel for someone most consider lower than her station. “The human…Lady Alyssa.”

“Not for long.” 

Tauriel jerked to the side. “Explain youself, Amdirnas. Is she truly going to die?”

One of the healers who had been saved the day before by Alyssa stepped closer. “No. We gave her a potion to calm her heart to counter the effects of the Aemie beans Legolas fed her. In humans and some Elves, it causes rushes of energy. She called it a triple shot of espresso green beans. I told her to avoid any Elven foods that are red in the future. Emotion mixed with the increased energy and wine overtaxed her body. She is comfortable now.”

“Then she was taken to the other humans?”

“Yes.” Amdirnas responded.

“Then what did you mean about not for long?” 

“She may not be human before long.” Amdirnas watched the confusion on her face. “When an Elven ruler pledges themselves to a non-Elf, the bond from the ruler causes the other to transform into Elvenkind. It is something that has not happened since before Thranduil was born. It was a very old spell that was cast on his family, so that they would not be deprived of their bond because of the fragility and short lives of other beings.”

Another guard spoke up. “That is just a myth.”

Amdirnas shook his head. “No, it is just a very old truth that has not been witnessed in any of our lifetimes.” 

The guard that had been strangled earlier when he pointed out where Alyssa was taken spoke up. “Yes. Her skin was much too smooth for a human. No blemishes. No flaws.”

Yet another chimed in. “Her hair. It had lighter areas than first I saw her. Longer too. Perfectly straight.”

“Very well.” Tauriel clasped her hands behind her back as a decision was made to relay something Galadriel told her. “I heard it said that last time Thranduil took an Elvenqueen that he killed males who touched her. So hands off and less talk more action. Leave the mountain and protect the kingdom.”

Tauriel watched them leave then took off running after Thranduil hoping she didn’t come across any dead bodies in the halls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deep breath. OK how was that? *ponders what will happen when he catches up to her and the man who is carrying her.*


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched how Thranduil interrogated the Orc he beheaded and how he questioned Tauriel before writing this. Warning! Angst ahead, but don’t worry because it will not last forever. No character death here, but how would you feel to know you were about to be responsible for everyone in Middle Earth’s death?

Thranduil paused entering another juncture. The two guards were female, so he ignored them and continued.

Thranduil stalked down halls and corridors playing their words over and over in his mind. He thought of every interaction and word from the meeting now knowing what happened was vastly different from what he thought. 

He had perceived she was playing some game trying to make him jealous even as he appeared to be a complete fool in front of Elrond and Celeborn. He had let his arrogance blind him into feeling that the things that made her special were an embarrassment. 

He knew now that to Alyssa it must have seemed that he had used her emotions and seduced her to further his plans. He thought over the way she gave herself so freely when he asked. When he was vulnerable, she strengthened him and said yes she wanted him even with fear in her eyes. She was everything he needed, and he denounced her in front of others. “I betrayed her. At the first opportunity, I betrayed her.” 

Thranduil came to a stop and stared blankly into the distance at the darkness of the hall. He guessed it was like his future. Straight, empty and led only to darkness.

He leaned against a wall remembering when he vowed to her that he would not press her to know the identity of the ring bearer – the feeling from that moment was that she was delicate and rare. He thought of how it felt like their lives were entwining as their bodies moved together in rapture. He thought of how he had almost killed the healers. His jealousy at Legolas for paying attention to her and at Celeborn for mentioning her attractiveness that spurred his deranged lunatic rant. The silence of her heart as her face contorted in pain. His panic at the mention of her possible death. The way he needed her more than anything in existence. 

Thranduil turned sharply at an intersection and cursed himself several times in Elvish within his own mind before he whispered. “I truly love her.” 

He strode on knowing that he had to plead his case to her. His mind glazed over again with a single determination. Alyssa.

 

A voice brought Alyssa back to consciousness. She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but she reached up letting her hand rest on his heart. The rhythmic beating became her focus even as soft hair brushed over her hand and arm. 

“I had a bad dream.” A smile curved her lips. “You were angry at me, and I couldn’t figure out why.”

A whispered voice responded, “My Lady.” 

Alyssa became aware that strong arms held her, but her mind couldn’t focus. 

“You were given a calming potion. It will wear off soon.” A masculine voice offered.

Alyssa patted his chest then ran her hand in his long hair. Her eyes opened, and she vaguely noticed something was wrong. The color was wrong, but she didn’t care. “I love you.”

Tauriel swiftly moved out of a side corridor she had ran down. She almost bumped into a member of her guard. 

Tauriel looked down the long open hall to see the Elvenking of Mirkwood standing half way down it and knew he had heard everything that was said. 

Thranduil started forward again – sword in hand extended to the side. 

Tauriel spoke over her shoulder, “Get her in the room.” At this point, she didn’t see the guard living past the next few minutes. He was Denewen, her second in command’s younger brother and Legolas’s childhood friend.

Denewen had his back to the door that held the humans, and he stepped backward toward it. Another guard was already opening the door for him. 

Alyssa glanced up seeing Thranduil moving closer. The calming potion was still active. “You’re in two places at once.” She giggled not understanding the peril of the situation. 

Tauriel stood her ground and extended her empty arms out to the side knowing to Thranduil it appeared a man was happily carrying his woman off as she spoke of loving the other man. “My Lord. Please.”

“You will not keep her from me.” Thranduil advanced and the floor shook with his anger. 

“He was protecting her.” Tauriel heard the door close behind her and the guards that had been standing outside the door pressed themselves back against it. She knew none of them would raise a hand against their Elvenking and even if they fought he would dispatch them in moments. Only words stood a chance of saving Denewen’s life.

Thranduil slowed when the Elves before him kneeled. “From what?”

She couldn’t think of anything else. “You my Lord.”

He stopped a few feet from her as his mind needed to know how Alyssa was being threatened. “Elaborate.” 

“My Lord your anger could bring the mountain down on us…her. Down on her.”

He blinked at Tauriel then the door. The trembling of the mountain stopped.

Tauriel hoped she was getting through to him. She didn’t think he would kill her, but because of the coldness of his glair she believed Denewen was still in danger. “You pledged yourself in a bond with her. Your anger could cause you to harm her my Lord.” 

Thranduil took a few deep breaths then moved around her. “Move or die.”

The guards flung themselves to the side hoping they were out of the reach of his sword. The swishing sound of the sword let them know they were but just barely. 

 

Alyssa blinked up at the Elf who was carrying her backwards. “Who are you?”

“Denewen my Lady.” He crossed the large communal room and went straight to one of the bed chambers. He gently placed her on a bed knowing from the sounds that the other humans were asleep in their own rooms. For now anyway.

“What’s happening?” 

“You were ill, and I brought you here to rest.”

“Ill? The wine then the potion. Yes, it’s kind of foggy. Wait. Why do you look so worried?” She sat up feeling a throbbing in her head. 

“Because my Lady, I am about to die.” Denewen straightened and took a step back. “Tell Legolas – Namaarie.”

“Farewell?” Alyssa turned at the sound at the door. 

Thranduil strode forward sword in hand and never slowed his advance on Denewen. 

Alyssa slid off the bed and extended her arm toward the Elf that was even now closing his eyes. “No!”

The silver sword halted a mere hair width from her forearm that blocked Denewen’s neck. Her shuttering breath caused her body to flinch; her skin lightly touched the blade edge that was sharpened finer than a razor. 

Alyssa gasped as her blood dripped down her perfectly smooth skin. 

Thranduil jerked his wrist and arm back slinging the sword across the room to cut half way into the wall. Screams came from the common room, and he ignored it. He lunged forward grabbing her arm to inspect the wound only to see that it was already healed.

Alyssa let out a screech and tried to pull back. Her heart hammered in her chest causing her to gasp in air. 

Thranduil scooped her up and set her back on the bed. “I harmed you.” 

The burning in her arm disappeared, and she focused on taking deep breaths. The fog in her mind was gone now. She remembered everything. The meeting. His painful words in Elvish. Her collapse. The Elf who was even now kneeled by her bed waiting for his death to come. 

When her heart slowed, she found her voice. “Yes.”

Thranduil saw on her face and in her eyes that she wasn’t just talking about her arm. 

He glanced down knowing his own shame, and his peripheral vision caught trace of Denewen. He tipped his head to see him more fully. His anger stirred again at the sight of seeing a man in her chamber. 

“Don’t hurt him.”

Thranduil’s eyes clouded over with a mixture of jealousy and anger. “You said you loved him and now you do not wish him hurt?”

“He helped me.” 

Thranduil stood and turned to the other Elf. 

Alyssa closed her eyes and pressed a hand over her heart. She pictured the video she watched of Thranduil beheading the Orc; she trembled as the image shifted so that the kind Elf now took its place. Tears rolled down her face as she spoke. “I know I mean nothing to you, but please. Don’t.”

Alyssa waited. Dread filled her at knowing the slicing liquid sound of metal piercing flesh was coming. The end of a life.

Thranduil slid his sword into its scabbard and heard Alyssa jerk on the bed. The sound of her flinching at his movements was as a slice along his heart. She feared him and thought herself unimportant to her. He knew it was his own fault. 

His voice whispered out. “Leave us.”

Denewen kept his head lowered as he slowly made his way to the doorframe where Tauriel stood. She gripped his arm and pulled him from the room shoving him sideways toward Galadriel who was chanting a rune on the backside of the door.

Thranduil saw wide eyed humans gaping at him from the main chamber. His mind registered that they were important to her, so they should be important to him as well. “Remove everyone from this area. Send out hunters. See that the humans are unharmed and fed meat.”

Tauriel closed the door and ushered the shocked humans out into the hall. She shut the outer door as well. She watched Galadriel chanting till small lights flickered over that door . “What does it do?”

Galadriel smiled. “They will not wish to open the doors or leave the room. It will also drain the sickness from him. When he recovers, his bond will stop taxing her emotions as strongly as it is now. For now, she will feel everything magnified, but the potion she was given will keep her alive while her body becomes stronger.”

Tauriel hoped it would buy them some time to remove the male guards. “How long till he is himself again?”

“Without the runes, Celeborn took a couple decades. It is what prompted me to create the rune. With the enchantment in place and undisturbed, Elrond calmed in a couple hours.”

Tauriel pressed a hand to her stomach letting out the breath she was holding. “A couple hours. That is good.” As they walked away, she thought of Legolas and the fact that the rune would never be used for them. 

Galadriel glanced at her. “I would not be so sure if I were you.”

Tauriel’s face flushed. “I fear there is no hope.” 

“There was no hope, but there is now.” 

“What hope do I have my Lady? The Elvenking has already spoken about this matter.”

Galadriel took her hand and wrapped their arms together as they walked. “Before today, did you think a human girl could cause the said Elvenking to almost kill his own men in a fit of jealousy?”

Tauriel scoffed still not believing it happened. 

Galadriel laughed. “Maybe I am mistaken, but you gave a speech, and he took action against the Elvenking’s wishes. Right?”

Tauriel thought of how Legolas came for her then helped her hunt the Orc. 

“Besides, I believe the new Elvenqueen is a romantic, and she is developing a habit of saving those who anger him. I would venture she would have a sympathetic ear to your plight if you still wish to pursue Legolas and one day become Elvenqueen after her. Just something to think over for the next thousand years.” 

Tauriel nodded.

 

“We’re back here again.” Alyssa made it a statement. She told herself not to hope because last time she did her heart was ripped from her chest. It was still in pieces and seeing him pulled the parts farther away from each other.

“I have never been in this chamber.” Thranduil spoke still listening to her heart expecting it to stop at any moment like he had heard before in the meeting room. He glanced at her face seeing it red and her neck blotchy with color. 

“No. I’m back in bed looking like I have a fever. And you are pretending to care.” She believed he had some ulterior motive, and felt like a fool because his nearness comforted her.

“Do you have a fever?” His mind cleared to some degree as he focused on her noticing for the first time that parts of her hair were lighter, but his concern pushed those thoughts away.

“Did I last time?”

“No.”

“There’s your answer Einstein.” She shook her head trying to let go of her temper. “After everything you said…why are you here? What game are you playing now? If there is something you want from me, just ask. I’ll tell you so you can leave the pitiful human alone.”

He stood unmoving.

“No, nothing?” Alyssa thought of the Lord of the Rings and how Bilbo went to live in Rivendell when he was old. “Do you think that once you are done with me that Elrond will let me live out my old age in Rivendell?” Her eyes glassed over at the thought that it would most likely be the best she could hope. “It should be safe there till they go to the Undying Lands. No, I’ll be dead by then, so I don’t have anything to worry about. Yes, can you ask him if he will send someone for me when I get old?”

Thranduil gave no outward reaction even as he felt her torment as his own. Each word from her mouth was as a hundred dagger strikes to his heart; it healed with each pause then began again with her next few words. He knew dragon fire was less painful than what he was currently enduring.

She continued. “But I may not live that long. Even now, you could make me answer questions about the ring. You could make the other humans talk too. Snap our arms in a few places and we would probably blurt it out. It would have been better if we never came here.” She blinked and stared at the ceiling. “You see, I don’t have the strength to kill my friends out there then to kill myself…not even to save the whole of Middle Earth. I truly wish the mutated wolf thing had killed me out by the river. It would have been less painful than this.”

Thranduil’s own heart had a problem beating when she casually spoke of committing suicide and how she was almost shredded to death by a Warg. Sacrificing herself for complete strangers some of which were his own people. 

His vision failed momentarily as he pictured what he would have seen if he arrived later and she had managed to end her own life or if the Warg had gotten a hold of her. He saw the drip of blood on her arm take on a whole new life as a vivid image appeared, that was helped along by his own memories of his previous Elvenqueen’s death. The horror in his mind resulted in the red ruin of Alyssa’s body. Eyes open fixed in the distance, the metallic smell of blood in the air.

Alyssa pressed a hand to her mouth then wiped back tears. “I’m not strong like you are. The lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few. I can’t do it, so eventually you will get your answer then the Dark Lord wins. Yes, Galadriel was right. Even the smallest person can change the course of the future. That phrase always brought me hope, but now…I guess that makes me the Destroyer of Worlds.” 

Her eyes widened with understanding that eventually she would tell him what he wanted and every person on every movie about Middle Earth would be dead at the hands of Mordor. She thought about the women and children at Helm’s Deep. Her mind wandered over Rivendell and the Shire. She would be their death.

He kneeled beside the bed at seeing her eyes staring out like the dead. He leaned forward bracing himself with his arms. He saw the anguish on her face. She wasn’t making even the slightest attempt to hide it. He was not use to such blatant honesty. 

He opened his mouth to speak, but words didn’t come out. He didn’t know how to express his deep sorrow at his action and words toward her. Yes, he determined…he had harmed her…in every way possible. Physically, emotionally, mentally. He knew he had taken the joyful smiling girl he met not long ago and turned her into a sorrow filled wreck desolate of all hope. 

Words failed him under the immensity of the emotion in that revelation. He gave up trying and laid his head down on the bed. His ragged breaths were the only sound in the room as tears fell from his closed eyes. A soft hand brushed at his hair, and he existed in that moment of kindness from the one he hurt so badly. 

Thranduil fought the urge to pull away, but he also didn’t want to leave the room. Her contact was something he needed, but her gentle care with him after his atrocities only added to his torment. 

He peered up at her now vacant eyes knowing he had to find a way to fix things. “Forgive me.”

“For being you? The Elvenking?” Her face remained frozen staring at the ceiling. “You’re who you are. You don’t need forgiveness. Just ask me who the ring bearer is so the world can end.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *glances back at warnings for this fic and pause to think how true they were* OK, I need a minute. Alright, time to make it better. Deep breath.


	14. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eight hours later and here I am writing the next chapter. What can I say, they keep speaking in my mind, and I have to write it down.

Thranduil watched as exhaustion pulled Alyssa into sleep. He had no idea how he was going to make things right with her. His mind was still a jumble of emotion yelling at him that he had to protect her. He vaguely remembered Tauriel saying they were trying to protect her from him. 

He started to think about that, but his mind shut off going back to being consumed by emotions. Time passed, and he fell asleep to dream of his kingdom falling down around him.

Thranduil woke a few hours later. As he lifted his head, he became aware of how stiff his body felt. His sapphire blue eyes shot open and in a moment took in the situation. He was kneeled by a bed in a strange small room, and Alyssa was sleeping. 

He stood and rubbed the side of his head that felt like a Dwarf took a hammer to it. Memories of the last couple of days rushed back. Her arrival. His obsession. The Warg that tried to kill her. His carrying her into the mountain while he was half clothed. His concern for her being sick and the revelation she knew the future. He almost killed healers. She kissed Legolas by mistake then Thranduil talked plainly to Legolas about his pain over the loss of his Elvenqueen. 

He rubbed his hands together knowing after that other things were harder to remember. Images flashed in his mind as he claimed Alyssa and worshiped her body. Pounding at the door. “Decorating?” 

Thranduil picked up a chair and moved it to the side of the bed. He sat and thought about the sleeping woman. Her damaged clothing barely covered her, and she braved Celeborn’s scorn and Elrond’s amusement. 

Starved. Drunk to the point of being poisoned. All the while, she maintained herself and tried to tell us things to save our people from Mordor. She was honorable. “Which is more than I can say for myself.”

Thranduil rested his elbows on the bed and placed his head in his hands. He remembered what he said and how she reacted. He thought of her heart skipping a beat and how he rushed after her almost killing his own people. 

“Now what’s wrong?” A delicate female voice broke him from his self loathing. 

He watched her green eyes open to see they were brighter than before. His eyes flicked to the healed cut on her arm then over the site of the point on her ear. He held his breath knowing things were about to get worse.

He ground his teeth together thinking that with everything that happened she would most definitely not take too kindly to being told he pledged them in bond without her knowing, and she was now transforming into an Elf. She was the new Elvenqueen if she liked it or not.

“What?” Alyssa rubbed at her eyes a few times and rolled on her side facing him. “What’s wrong with my eyes? Did you give me another potion? The last one knocked me on my ass. What the Hell?” She blinked then squinted again. “How come I can see and count every eyelash on each eye, but you look all blurry.”

Thranduil spoke quietly and slowly. “Hold our hand in front of your face. Pull it back slowly and try to keep focus as it moves.”

She had to concentrate, but it worked. “You guys have some strong drugs here. What’s going on? How did I get here?”

Thranduil saw the moment she knew the answer to her own questions. She paused holding her breath then lay back more firmly. 

Alyssa remembered her dream that that turned into a nightmare. She fell madly in love with the Elvenking only to have him flip like a coin. He went from hot to cold. Love and adoration to scorn and loathing. He had manipulated her, and she so easily and quickly fell for it.

Tears threatened to form in her eyes, but she pushed the feeling back. She told herself he was not human. He was an Elf. And not any Elf, he was the Elvenking of Mirkwood. Master manipulator…a cold hearted bastard extraordinaire! 

She pictured him in a top hat instead of a crown and the image lessened the pain. “What happens now?” She was proud that her voice didn’t shake. 

“What do you want?”

“In exchange for what exactly?” She thought about the ring bearer and her request to ask Elrond if she could go to Rivendell. Above all else, she wished Gandalf was there. She knew she could trust him and if anyone knew what to do it would be him. “Gandalf wouldn’t happen to be in your kingdom right now would he?”

Thranduil rubbed the side of his head, but his crown got in the way. He ripped it off his head and launched it across the room. 

Alyssa hissed in air through her nose and stiffened. She spoke quietly as if he held a gun to her head. “Just tell me what you want?”

Thranduil closed his eyes knowing he was losing control, but only in bursts. “At least this is better than last time.” He turned to the door. “Yes, Galadriel is here. It must be her rune. Jealous of Gandalf? Always something new around you.” 

Alyssa shook her head and sat up. A sound of pain left her mouth as she cradled her head. “You’re not making any sense and why is everything so loud and bright?” When he didn’t answer she removed her hands. 

Thranduil leaned back in the chair. “You truly wish to know?” 

“No, I’m asking you because I want you to hide the answer from me.” She absently rubbed at her arm causing some dried blood to flake off. 

No response. 

“Of course I want you to answer. You know what? Just forget it. It’s not like I’m going to get the truth anyway.” Alyssa lay back down and pulled the blanket up to her chin because she didn’t with to flash him if the only clasp holding her shirt closed finally broke. “I’m too tired for this anyway.” 

She almost rolled over when she noticed he had dark circles under his eyes. Elves aren’t supposed to look tired or have bloodshot eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I do not even know where to begin.” Thranduil stared at the edge of the bed.

“Start with what’s wrong with you. You look tired. Legolas can fight in battles for hours and he still looks rested and amused. So something is wrong. Just say it.” She thought Thranduil appeared as if every hang over his Elven physiology staved off had hit him all at once. 

Thranduil went back to grinding his teeth. 

“What?”

“Do not talk about him right now.”

“I don’t want to talk about him, I’m asking about you.” Alyssa huffed out.

“You will not believe me and will think I am trying to manipulate you.” 

“Yes. I think we’ve established that already, so just tell me what’s wrong.”

“I was so worried that you were ill with fever that I did not notice that I was the one that had fallen into a sickness.”

Alyssa pushed the blanket back and sat up ignoring the dizzy sensation as she sat on the edge of the bed. She leaned forward touching his forehead while thinking she didn’t remember ever hearing that Elves got sick. “You don’t feel warm. What is it? Can the healers help? Wait. Is that why Galadriel is here? I can go get her.”

“I do not need her. I need you.”

“To do what?” Alyssa glanced over his face. “Maybe you should lay down. Here. Just lay down and I’ll go get her and the healers and Elrond if he’s still around. He heals people. Yes, I’ll get Elrond.”

Alyssa stepped to her feet and lost her balance. 

Thranduil grabbed her waist and set her back on the bed. “Just remain here with me and stop being concerned for me and talking about other men.” He opened his mouth and tried for the truth. “It pains me.”

Alyssa pulled his wrists making him let go. “What’s going on?”

Thranduil paced as he spoke. “When I met my Elvenqueen and we bonded, I angered her by killing anyone who touched her.”

Alyssa tried to understand. “Well, if I was married and my spouse went around sleeping with other people, and by sleeping I mean sex, I would probably be mad too.”

“Not sex. Touching.”

“OK, but heavy petting, grinding is probably still cheating.” Alyssa had no idea where he was going with this.

“No. Touching as in a brush of the finger when a goblet was passed to her during dinner.” He stopped pacing to watch her. 

“Was it an Orc?” She knew that sounded stupid as the words came out, but she was too tired to care.

“No, he was an Elven servant.” 

“You killed a guy for handing her a glass?” 

“I killed several.” Thranduil stepped closer watching the alarm on her face. 

“Several? And by several you mean…?” 

“A few hundred.”

Alyssa took a deep breath. “Uuuuhu.”

“She left the palace.” Thranduil folded his arms not wanting to continue the story. “Then I destroyed half of my kingdom.”

“Palace?” 

“Yes it was in ruin and so when she returned we moved here after the sickness wore off. Legolas was born and all was well for a time.”

“Sickness?” Alyssa could only manage one word.

Thranduil went back to pacing. “As Galadriel will explain if asked, when a Lord or King pledges himself to one he loves a bond can be formed. It is nothing formal just usually a few words. The Lord or King will then exhibit violent jealousy and obsession for a few decades unless spells or runes are used to drain him of it.”

Alyssa thought of Tauriel talking to Thranduil about Legolas. “Pledge?”

“Yes, usually an offer and acceptance.” Thranduil stopped walking again. “It would appear I have fallen under the same sickness again because I have pledged and am bound.”

Alyssa opened her mouth then closed it. She tried a few more times before the question came out. “Is Celeborn dead?”

Thranduil stepped to the side of the bed. “No. Why would you ask about him?” Thranduil was barely able to contain himself every time she mentioned yet another man.

“Then how are you pledged to Galadriel? She’s already married or bound or pledged or whatever you call it. I didn’t think Elves divorced. Well, OK then. Mystery solved.” Alyssa felt the broken shards of her heard solidify to stone. 

She couldn’t look at him. Her eyes moved to the side. “I’m sure the two of you will rule well together. I don’t know how this is going to change things in the future. There wasn’t even a hint of this in the movie. I mean I thought if anyone other than Celeborn I thought she might like Gandalf. But ummm never mind that now. The two of you would look good together.”

Alyssa thought about her own frail body. She determined yes, she had been an idiot for even thinking he would find her even slightly attractive. She glanced down noticing that the pants were a lot shorter. She pointed her toes scrutinizing them then her hands. They looked different. “Did someone give me a mani-pedi while I was asleep?” 

She extended her arm noticing the dried blood and rubbed her arm. “I was cut.” Her fingers moved over perfectly smooth skin. “Where are my freckles?” She ran her hand up pushing back the sleeve. The scar she had from when she was a child was gone. 

Alyssa stood up studying herself. “I’m taller, my hair’s longer, and I have light brown highlights.” 

In a state of panic, her hands ran up touching her ears. “What have you done to me? Did you let a vampire bite my neck and drink my blood? Oh my gawd am I dead?” She pressed a hand to her heart to confirm it was beating.

Thranduil took a step back with his hands extended to his sides having no clue what she meant.

“Answer me!” She rubbed her arms. “What am I turning into? Pointed ears. Pointed ears. Well, I’m not turning Vulcan so what is it? An Orc? A Goblin? A Hobbit. I wouldn’t mind being a Hobbit. I could live in the Shire. Bilbo would take me in and I would be able to talk to Gandalf. No. Hobbits are shorter not taller. What is it? What are you turning me into?”

Thranduil stepped forward needing to end her panic and top her from mentioning any other men before he lost his control again. “The Elvenqueen.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read back over my chapters again. The hints of Thrandy’s jealousy in ch 7, 8, and 11 are fun because it is the sickness taking over. The slow decent into the insanity of love. OK, they have hit bottom. It is time to bring them back up…slowly.   
> Hears the Scarlet Pimpernel whisper to his love, “Ever so slowly, so very slowly…so that it takes a very very long time.”   
> M: “I don’t know whether you’re mad or…”   
> Scarlet Pimpernel, “…desperately in love. Tis all the same…”   
> *pauses remembering the movie where Gandalf was a villain and the Scarlet Pimpernel was a man of power who circled his enemy while insulting them and wearing shimmering metallic colors* heheheee OK, back to the story.

“Wwwhat?” Alyssa’s eyes went out of focus and dizziness took over. 

“Here. Just lay back down. You need to rest. Transforming is said to take a lot of energy and time to adjust. Lay down.”

“Transforming.” Alyssa blindly smacked at the hands that grabbed her. “Don’t touch me! Don’t you fucking touch me.” He let her go, and she held her hands to her face and brought them away trying to control her focus. Her eyes zoomed in and the ridges of her fingerprint appeared to be a massive maze. “What the hell?”

“Lay down.” Thranduil spoke more forcefully this time seeing her panic rise. 

“No, stay away from me. I’m not getting in that bed or any bed ever again. Beds are bad. This isn’t right. Did you say Elvenqueen? I’m transforming into the Elvenqueen?” Alyssa had no desire to change into an Elf so Thranduil’s dead wife could possess her body. She hoped maybe she heard him wrong.

“Yes.” 

Alyssa stayed still for several minutes before she ran a hand over the point on her ear. Was this his plan all along? She now believed he slept with her to see if he liked her body enough to use it for his Elvenqueen’s reappearance. She repeated over and over that she had to remain in control and find a way out. “How much time do I have?” 

“Until what?”

“How much longer am I going to still be me? When will everything be...” Alyssa waved her arm around, “finalized?” She tried to remain calm even though she was talking about her body being taken over by a ghost. She feared if she tried to bolt from the room he would have her locked in or put in a cell. 

Thranduil lifted his head in thought and clasped his hands behind his back. He guessed she wanted to know when he would present her to his kingdom and make everything official. “As soon as possible. Tonight during the evening meal. Do not worry, I will find something suitable for your attire.”

“Suitable? Something suitable.” Her eyes finally blinked into focus as her anger rose. “Why did you do this to me? Why make me into the Elvenqueen when you just bonded with Galadriel?”

He shook his head having no idea how she came up with that. “I am bonded with you.”

“Then why were you talking about Galadriel earlier?”

Thranduil breathed in taking a quick step toward her. “Why were you talking about Gandalf and how Legolas never looks tired but I do? You spoke of wanting to move to live with Elrond in your old age and living with Bilbo in the Shire. Shall I mention all the other men you threw in my face today?”

“I’m not throwing anything in your face. You idiot.” Alyssa started for the door and paused a foot away from it and turned back to him. “So I’m turning into the Elvenqueen and we are bonded?” Her voice was high pitched and shaky. 

He took a deep breath tipping his head to the side in relief. “Yes exactly. Now you understand. I cannot have two Elvenqueens. Only one.” The thought of him being with another was bizarre to him and he decided that belief accounted for her behavior. “By the end of the day you will be my Elvenqueen.” 

“Do I get any say in this?” She folded her arms.

Thranduil knew women preferred to plan these things out and he had no desire to wait hundreds of years for coronation plans to unfold. “No.” 

“You’re a barbaric ass.”

“I know this is a short amount of time for planning. I can assure you that everything will be perfection.” 

 

“Go fuck yourself.” Her deadpan response was a mask over the furry she felt inside. She had no idea if her own consciousness would still exist after or if she would be in her body unable to move  completely under another’s control for thousands of years.

He thought about how she might still harbor ill feelings toward him for his harsh words earlier. “At the meeting, the words I said to them…I did not know you could understand me and I thought you were trying to make me jealous. It was the sickness taking over. What I said to them was not real. Do you understand? This is real. The bond is real.”

Alyssa thought about how he had commented that he was going to use her for a time then get rid of her. The whole time he had bonded with her and had no intention of letting her go because he needed a female body for his love to possess. “Yes, I understand. I watched the Mummy and Stargate. I know how this works. You were trying out my body to see if you liked it. You needed a body. I’m that body.”

Thranduil felt confusion over her words, so he let himself speak the truth and hoped she understood him since he could not fully comprehend her words. “I needed somebody, yes. You are that someone, and yes I admire your body and more. I wish to give you the other broach…to be my Elvenqueen. To rule alongside me. Together.”

Alyssa blinked trying to remember the story he told her about the broach in the box that belonged to his wife who was killed by wolves. She had told him he would give it to another. “So that is how this works. You give me the broach and I become the Elvenqueen.” She wondered if the broach held the soul of his love and by giving it to her some type of magic would cause her to be possessed by the other woman. He had broke her heart to the point that the idea of him actually wanting her was so fantastical that she truly believed he wished his dead wife to possess her body and live again.

In the back of his mind he was already deciding on what their matching outfits would look like for the coronation. The broach would be a splendid touch. “Yes, I give you the broach and you become the Elvenqueen.” His smile warmed at the thought of having Alyssa by his side, now and forever.

“And I stop being me?” Alyssa ran her hand over her arm feeling the remains of her dried blood where his sword cut her by accident. She absently wondered if that was part of the ceremony to bring back his love. 

Thranduil thought about how her name would change with the title of queen. “Yes.”

“The Elvenqueen will have all of my memories?” Alyssa was back to worrying about being the cause of the death of all Middle Earth if the secret about who the ring bearer was got out. 

Thranduil stepped closer to her wondering why she was talking about herself that way. He guessed she was worried about her own memories being erased by the transformation. “Memories should remain intact.” 

“Will she keep my secret about the ring?” 

Thranduil supposed this was the strangest conversation he had ever had with her and remembering the light boxes and spy conversations that was saying something he thought. “She…” He waved a hand at her. “…will take the secret to the grave I would think and I would not ask it of her.”

Alyssa thought he was trying to manipulate her so she wanted to add a stipulation if she could. “Alright. One condition.”

Thranduil knew the coronation was a very important thing that was usually planned hundreds of years in advance and for her to concede to whatever he could plan in one day was a massive concession on her part. “Name it and all will be as you say.”

“You will have part of your army take the humans who arrived to Rivendell where they will live unharmed till Gandalf can find a way to get them home. They can never be forced to leave Rivendell to go somewhere else in Middle Earth unless it is to take them home to our planet and time. They will not be questioned in any way about the future, the Lord of the Rings books and movies and the Hobbit books and movies and if possible you will have someone enchant them so they can’t talk about it. And it has to not harm them in anyway.” She wondered if she left something out. “And if someone can, make them forget their memories of what happened here. And do it without killing them, harming them, or letting them be harmed.” 

“It shall be done and they will leave within the hour.” 

“Vow it.” Alyssa watched him closely. 

“I vow.” Thranduil bowed to her before going to the door and staring at it for several moments before he could open it. He strode out to plan their wedding, her coronation, and send the pesky humans away. He thought it could not have been more perfect for him if he had planned for it. He believed she had taken the news well and he was anxious to start their life together.

Alyssa watched him leave having no intention of letting her body be taken over by the Elvenqueen. She didn’t care how romantic it would be for Thranduil and Lenore to be reunited after her tragic death. She wasn’t going to play host and believed the wording of the vow would let her leave. 

She went to the door and focused on a quiet conversation Thranduil was having with Tauriel. Her concentration caused her new Elven ears to up the volume to the point she could hear every word. He relayed the vow almost word per word then left. 

Alyssa jogged up to Tauriel as she moved away. “Can you take me to the humans?” 

Tauriel glanced over Alyssa’s hair seeing it was all light brown now. It gave her hope that one day Tauriel might be the Elvenqueen and rule with Legolas. Tauriel nodded determining that she would assist Alyssa with anything she asked for. Galadriel had after all said that Alyssa might persuade Thranduil in her favor. “This way my Elvenqueen.” She strode forward.

“Don’t call me that and can you find me something that fits and a good pair of boots?” 

“As you wish my Lady. I have a few outfits that you might prefer if you do not mind that they are mine.” Tauriel thought it might be a way of testing if she had issues with her station. She knew that Thranduil would rather strut around naked than to wear something that another had already owned.

“I wouldn’t mind at all, but we need to hurry.”

 

Thranduil spend the next few hours ordering around almost every servant in his kingdom. Refreshments, flowers, and magical Elven lights that shimmered in the exact color of Alyssa’s eyes were arranged with great care. Everything was set to begin at the exact moment of the sunset, so that star and moon light would bathe the scene when he presents her to his people. He only had thirty minutes left for preparation. 

Thranduil adjusted his crown for the hundredth time that hour and addressed the servant who just returned. “Tell me her garments fit her perfectly.” 

The servant bowed low. “I cannot my Lord.”

Thranduil’s eyes flashed with annoyance and anger. “It cannot be too tight. I accounted for her many curves. Alright is it too tight around the bust?”

“I would not know my Lord.” He bowed lower.

Thranduil turned fully to the man who was almost pressing himself to the floor. He jerked him up and peered into his eyes. “Why are you trying my patience? Tell me if the dress does not fit. Out with it.”

“I do not know if it would fit. She was not there to try it on. I had ladies check your rooms and no one has seen her in hours.” 

Thranduil shoved him away and stormed around in search of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does he find her on the road or does she make it to Rivendell? Choices…choices.


	16. Chapter 16

“Tauriel how come I can hear a waterfall but don’t see one? Is it an Elf thing?” Alyssa glanced around the lake. 

“There are no waterfalls my Lady.” Tauriel glanced to the side seeing one of their horses relieving itself. She guessed her quick transformation was causing her to have adjustment issues that usually only young children have. “Your ears are focusing on that thereby dulling your awareness of other sounds.”

Alyssa turned. “That’s just gross.” She put her hands over her new Elven ears. “Not only is my life messed up but my ears are fucking up.” She rubbed them wondering if there was some trick like holding your hand in front of your face to force your eyes to focus correctly. “What can I do to make it stop?”

Tauriel stood when she noticed that Legolas had signaled for the army to prepare to continue. The humans were already in their wagon far afield. “We are not far from Rivendell. The mistrals there will sooth your senses. They play during meals because that is a time when our hearing sometimes focuses on the chewing sounds. The harps take the focus, so when we arrive we can have them play for you. It should help.”

Alyssa remembered the musicians playing instruments for Gandalf and the Dwarves when they ate. “I don’t know if harps will cut it.” Alyssa walked to her dark Friesian horse and mounted. As soon as they started moving, she knew he would follow the horse in front of her without her having to use the reigns to let him know where to go. She let him fall in line behind Tauriel’s blood bay Andalusian horse. 

“We should arrive within a couple hours. I could find someone to sing to you while we ride if you wish.” Tauriel spoke over her shoulder noticing Alyssa pulled out the devil box that glowed. 

“No thanks. I’ll find something on here.” Alyssa put in her earbuds and set her music app to random. 

The first song started with a woman’s voice: “I laid there feeling sorry for myself in a bed of Kleenex stuffing chocolates in my mouth, on the phone with my best friend cussing my ex…”

Alyssa shook her head and let her hands hold onto the long wavy dark mane that softly flowed over her hands. “Reba. She’s crazy. I love her.”

Tauriel slowed her horse so she was next to Alyssa. “My Lady?”

“It’s a song about getting over an ex.”

Tauriel did now know why someone would sing about climbing over an axe. She raised her eyebrows. 

“Here they’re still scouting up ahead. I’ll restart it. You might like it.” Alyssa handed her one earbud and started it from the beginning. 

After they listened to the song three times, Tauriel and Alyssa were quietly singing along together. “He broke my heart, felt like the world had ended, I cried myself to sleep thinking I can't get over him…strange.”

Legolas waved at Tauriel and Alyssa to move forward with the rest. They ignored him even as he heard them singing about men breaking their hearts. He glanced around noticing that no one paid them any attention. “Strange indeed.”

Tauriel glanced up then sang louder so Legolas could fully hear. She was still upset that his father had deemed her unworthy to bond with Legolas. What made it worse was that after the death of the dragon Legolas had been giving her a wide birth and treated her like a guard. They were no longer in each other’s confidence. 

So Tauriel sang with attitude that would make the original singer proud. “Strange, talk about luck I woke up and the sun was shining. Strange, I ought to be in bed with my head in the pillow crying over us, but I ain't, ain't love strange…” Tauriel raised an eyebrow then removed the earbud giving it back to Alyssa. 

Tauriel rode past Legolas murmuring the words of the song. She spoke of wearing a strapless black dress and laughing if he commented on it. He had never seen her in such a dress and his imagination ran wild with all the possibilities as he watched her long red hair fan out behind her.

He watched her in a state of shock. It was the first time he had ever heard her use the word love, and it was directed at him. The other part that confounded him was the fact that her body movements and demeanor made it clear that she was indifferent to him that she was leaving him behind. Realizing this might be the truth he instantly nudged his horse to follow her. 

Alyssa smiled watching Legolas follow after Tauriel knowing that Tauriel was taking the song to heart. And she was put in mind of the Hobbit, Tauriel had led Legolas to do something that his father had told him not to do. Maybe he would defy his father once again, but this time instead of following her to kill Orcs he would bond with Tauriel. Her smile widened at the thought of them ending up together and how it was kind of Romeo and Juliet.

Alyssa finally let the song move onto another one after it finished that time. The next song started out with a man singing softly: “Say something, I'm giving up on you…” 

The familiar pain sprouted to life again in her heart stealing her grin. It was always there so close to the surface ready to kill any happiness she felt. Her eyes went wide and blind as it burst to life taking over her body again. 

The song continued in her ears: “I'll be the one, if you want me to…” 

Alyssa’s eyes teared as she closed them. She stupidly hoped that Thranduil was the one for her, and she had giving herself to him. She lowered her head knowing she had given more than just her body. She had offered him her heart, and he had carelessly broken it into pieces that bleed anew as the song played. 

The piano toned the melody as the man continued singing: “Anywhere I would've followed you…”

Alyssa let go of the horse’s mane and wrapped her arms around herself as Christina’s soft and tormented voice joined his. She didn’t even notice her horse slowed down. 

Her eyes opened only long enough to see Legolas was still behind Tauriel even though she parted from the group and left for the trees. Legolas was pursuing Tauriel. 

Alyssa whispered, “No one’s following me.” Alyssa remembered pleading with Thranduil to say he cared, which he denied. She left his kingdom and thought he would have caught up to them by now. She wanted him to ride up, speak of his stupidity, and pledge his undying love then sweep her off her feet…literally. “Not gonna happen. This isn’t a romcom.”

With a shuttering breath, Alyssa knew if Thranduil had returned the sentiment then she would have literally followed him even if it took them to Mordor’s gates with no hope of survival. She was the one that would follow him and as the song kept saying she was giving up on him. Giving up on the dream that she thought was real, but it was only part of his manipulative plan to further his own ends.

The song continued with a steady rhythm that pressed on her heart: “…I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you. Anywhere I would've followed you. Say something, I'm giving up on you…”

Alyssa felt disoriented as if her pain were taking over her existence. She leaned forward feeling the horse slow even more under her. She blindly gripped its soft mane feeling the rocking gait match the song as she continued to listen: “And I will swallow my pride. You're the one that I love and I'm saying goodbye…”

Alyssa openly cried not even aware that there was an army of Elves around her. She allowed herself to feel how much she truly loved Thranduil, and she knew he wasn’t coming for her. She would never see him again and hadn’t even said goodbye before she left. 

Her mind offered that her torment was only one sided. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down, but the seduction of the song was too strong. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket knowing that on some sick level she wanted to keep listening to it and tormenting herself because it was a way of keeping him close even though she would never physically hold him again. With an unsteady hand and eyes blurry from tears, she managed to make it change the song. She tapped her thumb down hard on the last song. 

She didn’t know if the emotions were this strong on their own or if her transformation was causing the intensity, but she decided to try to calm down. Alyssa wiped the tears away taking solace in hearing a strong woman sing about being over her ex. She finally noticed that her horse was no longer walking, and she glanced around.

She was in a field on her horse….completely alone. “Where?” 

She had no idea where the army had gone or when they left her. She guessed that the music had distracted her and dulled her acute senses as Tauriel said it would. Alyssa pulled out her earbuds out, “Hello!” When there was no response she rubbed at her forehead trying to relax the tense muscles that were causing the start of a headache. “This is so bizarre.”

Alyssa turned her horse around the way she came. She ran her hand over her horse’s neck speaking to him, “Who knew a little crying could scare off an army of Elves. They left me. They just left me out here alone.”

“They did not my Lady.” A male voice sounded.

Alyssa held tight to her horse as it turned to the side. In the distance, she saw a man astride a white stallion. 

“Oh thank God.” Alyssa took in several deep breaths feeling relieved as the man dismounted and slowly walked toward her. “You’re here.”

“Yes my Lady.” He said as he approached her on the uneven ground.

Alyssa dismounted with less grace than he did and knew it was her frayed nerves getting the better of her. “Everything’s a mess.” She threw her arms out and hugged him.

“Not entirely.” He had not expected her to wrap her arms around him, so it took a few seconds before he put an arm around her. “Are you quiet alright?”

“I am now. You’re here.” She released him knowing everything would be alright now. “Gandalf, I don’t know what to do. You have to help me. I’m a complete mess. My emotions keep taking over and my hearing well never mind that. I need help.”

“I can assure you my Lady I intend to do just that.”

“I don’t know where the Elves went. More importantly is that I don’t want to be demon possessed by the dead Elvenqueen. I love Thranduil, but I can’t do that. You have to help me get home because I don’t know how long I can resist him even thought I know he really doesn’t care about me. You have to help me.” 

Gandalf shook his head. “Who said you will be possessed or have you seen that it shall come to pass?”

“No that’s not in the movie. I’m not in the movie um Thranduil said I would become the Elvenqueen.”

“And so you have.”

Alyssa shook her head. “I’m still me. That’s why I left.”

Gandalf listened to a bird relay a message then he turned his full attention back to her. “My Lady by all appearances you are the Elvenqueen.”

“Appearances yes, but she hasn’t possessed me yet.”

“As far as I know, you are not going to be possessed. The last Elvenqueen is dead and gone never to return.”

“No, he said he will give me the broach and then I’ll become her.” Alyssa said.

“My Lady he was most likely speaking about you turning to Elven kind because of his bond with you.”

“No, she is going to possess me, and you have to help me so that doesn’t happen.”

“Lady Alyssa, you will not be possessed.” He smiled at her knowing it was the reason she left and that the misunderstanding could have cost Thranduil his entire kingdom like it had the last time when he fell in love and his lady left. 

He decided to try to speak to her as a human and not the Elf that she appeared to be. “He loves you and wants to marry you. When you marry the king you become the queen. This past day he has been preparing a coronation and wedding not a necromantic possession. I asked the others to leave us so we could talk this out, and I believe the problem is as simple as you have misunderstood one another.”

Alyssa stared at him for a minute before talking. “But he doesn’t care about me. He said so himself.”

Gandalf straightened and blinked several times while wishing for pipe weed. “My Lady, I’m afraid he does care for you. A great deal it appears.”

Alyssa turned around to see Thranduil striding toward them with his sword in hand. “I come in search of my Elvenqueen and army to find the two of you alone in an intimate embrace. What is this?”

Gandalf took a step away from Alyssa knowing that Thranduil had watched their interaction. “Elvenking Thranduil, I was merely trying to slow her progress toward Rivendell so you would have a chance to catch up before she fell under the protection of Elrond. No one wants bloodshed. I was speaking of your love for her and trying to counsel her back to your kingdom.”

Thranduil sped up. “Counsel? You dare call that counsel. She was wrapped around you.”

Alyssa finally got over the shock of seeing him and recognized the expression on his face as the one he had when he almost killed the healers. She extended her hands out at her sides blocking his path to Gandalf. “Stop being crazy. He’s Gandalf. You can’t seriously think…he’s a god yes but he’s in the body of an old man right now. What are you going to do challenge him to a duel because I hugged him? He’s an old man, and I’m not into old men.” Alyssa remembered that Thranduil was also thousands of years old. She shook her head knowing she was rambling, but couldn’t help it. “Yes, I know you’re old too, but he looks it. Shit.”

Alyssa lowered her arms and turned to Gandalf. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

Gandalf smiled and nodded.

Thranduil moved to step around her. Alyssa threw her arms out again and almost backed into Gandalf. “Stop it! You’ll just cut me again.”

Thranduil stopped his advance. His eyes darted to her arm then he sheathed his sword. “Very well.”

They stood there watching each other a few moments before Gandalf spoke. “It would appear my Lord and Lady have a matter to discuss. I will take my leave.” He bowed and headed in the direction he knew Legolas was. His horse trotted up and followed him. 

When he left the field, Alyssa finally spoke. “Were you really going to hurt him?”

“I do not know. Were you really leaving me to go back to your own realm?”

Alyssa thought of Rivendell then of her apartment and never seeing Thranduil again. Her eyes flashed up to his as another thought set in. If what Gandalf said was true, Thranduil bonded with her just for her and not to bring his dead wife back. She blinked a few times not knowing how to believe it after all that had happened. Her faith in Gandalf persuaded her; she knew Gandalf would never do anything to harm someone and he would speak the truth. Another though occurred to her that felt more feasible, maybe Thranduil was up to something that Gandalf didn’t know about. 

She shook her head having completely forgotten what Thranduil asked. “What?”

“Are you leaving me?” His eyes flashed with intensity.

“And if I am going back where I belong?” She knew she shouldn’t push him because it appeared the sickness had not fully worn off or was coming back, but she needed to be realistic about the situation. She reminded herself this wasn’t a fairy tale and real life was closer to a tragedy than a romance. If real life were a romance then he would have rode up professing his feelings and would have begged forgiveness. He hadn’t. He showed up more concerned with wanting to fight with Gandalf, which to her proved he was an ass. Because after all only evil people tried to kill Gandalf. 

Thranduil’s temper visibly calmed. “I am sure is it a strange place, but I will follow you.”

“Is that what you think I want to hear? Pretty words that don’t mean shit. You wouldn’t follow me there. What the hell is going on? Why are you here because I know you aren’t really going to go to my realm. Gandalf said you don’t want to demon possess me with your dead Elvenqueen. OK, if that’s not what this coronation broach thing was about then what are you really up to?” 

Thranduil opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. It was worse than when he lost his speech in the hall from staring at her ass. She had thrown so much anger and pain at him in such a short amount of time he was losing the ability to think straight. 

Alyssa forced her arms to stay at her sides instead of wrapping around her in a futile attempt at protection against his kind words that could easily be a manipulation…again. “Give up your kingdom? Your power? Why?”

When he still didn’t respond, she folded her arms over her chest and glanced in the direction Gandalf had left. She then peered into his sapphire eyes feeling her emotions dwindle to the point where she could breathe without it hurting. 

Thranduil spoke one word of truth as he kneeled before her. “Love.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love may be invisible to the eye, but its existence is proved by the heart that beats for another. I played Say Something while writing the second half of this and it just about killed me. *reaches for another tissue and turns the music vid on again*


	17. Chapter 17

Alyssa let out the breath she was holding. For a passing moment, she allowed herself to believe the lie that he loved her and would give up his kingdom for her. It was a precious moment that passed too quickly. 

Thranduil reached into his silver robe and pulled out a broach that was smaller than his own. He extended it to her in offering as he continued to stay on his knees. Alyssa heard his teeth grinding before he spoke a word that had a sharp edge. “Please.” 

She stared at the delicate piece of silver in his hand and wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him, but she did not. She took a step back wondering if he had deceived Gandalf in the way that Saruman had…she corrected herself, would. She pictured her fingers closing over the intricate broach only to have it activate a necromantic spell that would allow his dead wife to take over her body. 

Alyssa made a fist with the hand that wanted to reach out for the broach. Her other hand closed over her fist, and she pressed them to her chest. Was he capable of something like that? Probably. Would he go to extraordinary lengths to get things he wanted? Most definitely. Was she willing to take the chance after everything that happened and blindly trust him? “No.”

Thranduil’s voice floated out almost entirely made of air. “No?”

Alyssa pressed her hands over her heart that shouted at her to give into him. She shook her head.

Thranduil sat back on his heels; his hands fell onto his lap. He gazed at the grass in front of him, “You truly believe I care nothing for you and wish only to spell her to possess your body or is there some new atrocity you believe me to be about?”

“How am I supposed to know what you could be up to?” 

“Because you can feel me now.” Thranduil’s sparkling eyes flashed up to hers, “As I feel you.”

“Feel me? There will be no feeling me. There was enough of that, and I think that is how I got so confused. We were feeling each other, and I fell for you. Hook, line and sinker.” 

He blinked at her last few words having no idea what she meant. “We are bonded, so of course we can feel each other. I cannot help but feel you.”

Alyssa extended a hand. “Well, you’re going to help it. I’m not having sex with you after all this!”

…

Gandalf tipped his head to the left. “See. They keep misunderstanding each other. He is talking about being able to feel her emotions because of their bond and that she should be able to feel his and would thereby know if he was lying. On the other hand, she believes he is talking about physical interactions.”

“She does that sometimes.” Legolas sat on the log next to Gandalf. He leaned forward so a branch would not obstruct his view. “She thinks most things are about…physical contact. I said intercourse talking about the fact that our speaking might not go over so well with him. She thought I meant sex.” 

Gandalf raised an eyebrow at him. “That word does mean sex in human speech, and besides you had just kissed her the night before when you were in bed together. You cannot blame her for thinking that was what you meant.”

“You did what?” Tauriel leaned around Gandalf.

“I did not kiss her. She mistook me for him and kissed me. He walked in just as it happened.” Legolas couldn’t bring himself to look at Tauriel. “It was not as it appeared.” He peered at Gandalf. “Just as he walked up seeing the two of you embrace. It did not mean what it could have appeared like.” 

Gandalf leaned back not letting Legolas hide beside him. “I suppose.” He took a long draw from his pipe knowing that the kiss had meant more to Legolas than he cared to admit in front of Tauriel who was continuing to stare holes into Legolas. “I believe we should leave them alone to resolve the issue.” 

With that, Gandalf stood up to leave the other couple to figure things out amongst themselves as well. “I will check in with the scouts and sent part of the army to take the humans to Elrond’s care.”

…

Alyssa thought Thranduil would have said something by now especially after she yelled at him. He just sat there watching the sunset. “So that’s it? I say we aren’t going to fool around and you give me the silent treatment.”

He thought of her words fool around and pictured a jester walking in circles. He shook his head knowing he did not understand her. Thranduil rubbed his thumb over the broach thinking his first love could say a few words and he would understand volumes of knowledge from it. His new love could talk for an hour on end, and he doubted he would comprehend half of what she meant. 

“Well?” Alyssa sat near him.

“I fear I am at my end.” 

“End of what?” 

Thranduil tucked the broach back inside his garments. “Everything.” He knew what he was about to say was the equivalent of admitting stupidity, but he knew if he was going to sort everything out he needed to know what she was saying. “I do not understand what you meant by fools and treatments.” 

“Um fooling around means sex and the silent treatment means that you are pouting so you don’t talk to the other person.” 

“Pouting?” 

“Yes, sulking. Your feelings get hurt or you don’t get your way so you say fine I’m not talking to you so there.” She made a humph sound and stuck out her bottom lip. She stopped when she noticed he was looking at her as if she transformed into a pink Orc wearing an evening gown. 

Thranduil spoke in deep tones. “What do you want of me?” 

“The truth.”

His voice boomed out. “I have given that very thing to you, but it is not enough. I love you with everything that I am and every action since my poor behavior at the meeting should prove that.”

Alyssa stood up. “You’re actions? You’re actions?”

Thranduil quickly followed her and towered over her. “Yes.”

“Planning what appears to be a demon possession, making me barter my freedom for my friends so they can get to Rivendell, and threatening to kill Gandalf. Yes, your actions speak clearly. If you really loved me, you would have swept me off my feet and been romantic not whatever the hell this is.”

“I came here willing to leave my kingdom for you, but that was not enough for you because you were still here and did not get to see my torment at actually living in your realm. You insult me accusing me of being a Necromancer when I was trying to plan your coronation and our wedding. You did not barter the human’s freedom; it is part of your wedding gift for not having as grand a ceremony as it could be if we planned a few hundred years for it. I have humbled myself to beg on my knees for your hand where half my army can hear and see but that is not enough for you either. Do you have any idea how many times I have allowed my army to leave my lands or how many times I have left?”

Alyssa’s eyes went wide, and she thought about how obsessive he was in The Hobbit that his people stay within Mirkwood. “I um. Um.”

Thranduil’s rate of speech kept increasing with his agitation, “Yes you…you have been speaking about how Bilbo would take you in if you needed a dwelling and how Legolas never appears tired even when he is in battle, but I do. And now I hunt you down to find you are on your way to live with Elrond. The one who choked so loudly on his wine when you were describing what you wanted to do with your wicked mouth. I have no doubt with you near he will start picturing it or you will imaging it. Or have you fantasized about him already?”

Alyssa floundered knowing that in the past she had fantasized about Elrond when she first watched Lord of the Rings. “I did, but he was just so lonely and regal and sad because his daughter was going to die. I wanted him to be happy. He needed someone. And all of that was before you. Well in the timeline it would have been after you. The Lord of the Rings is after the Hobbit. So technically I thought about him before you but it is really in the future. Um. I’m not explaining this very well.”

Alyssa stopped talking at seeing his expression. She had never seen such a tempest in his eyes and knew instinctively it was the last thing his enemies beheld on the battle field before their destruction at his hands. 

“Right now, do you desire him?”

“No. For me, that was years ago.”

“But still you go to him!”

“I was going to Rivendell because it was a safe place and not to be with him. I wanted to be somewhere I know and a place that Gandalf goes. I think he can help.”

“And there it is again! Whenever you mention him, your face brightens as if he is the sun itself shining on you.”

“Oh my god.” Alyssa pressed her hands to the sides of her head.

“Yes he is, and you keep pointing that out too while being angry at me for threatening him. I take exception to how many times I enter an area and men are touching you in ways that appear to be inappropriate. And you wish me to stand idly by and watch. You berate me for trying to defend your honor.”

“I don’t need you to defend my honor.” Alyssa practically spit the words out.

“You have made that abundantly clear. And so you strip my pride layer by layer and unman me and still I let you. I do not understand what else you want of me, so as I have said I am at my end.”

Alyssa knew she had asked for the truth from him countless times, and he always avoided it. “You know what I want, so don’t play stupid.” 

Strong arms wrapped around her, and she felt herself lifted into the trees. She screamed and tried to fight free to no avail. Her heart pounded in her chest as she gasped for air.

Thranduil secured them on a thick branch toward the top of the canopy then ripped the top of the tree off launching it into darkness. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Alyssa only now noticed night had fallen. Her Elven eyes had made things appear lighter than it was. 

“What you wanted.” Thranduil loosened his grip on her after he set her on his lap. He knew she had to hold onto him or fall.

Alyssa wrapped an arm around him pulling the side of her body to his chest. “What I wanted? I wanted to be scared to death? How did you get that from what I said?”

“Did I do it wrong?” Thranduil thought over her earlier words. “Surely you do not expect me to find a broom out here somewhere, and we had to land somewhere.” 

“OK, you’ve lost me.” Alyssa shook her head at his bizarre words. 

“You are right here.”

“Yes but why?” 

Thranduil glanced down at the ground then to her boots. “You said you wanted me to sweep you off of your feet. I do not have a broom so I improvised.”

Alyssa paused a moment then burst out into laughter. 

Thranduil had to keep a good grip on her or she would have fallen to her death. “You laugh at my difficulty?” He couldn’t help but grin as her outburst continued.

Alyssa finally found her voice. “And I thought guys were I’m from have a hard time understanding women, but you take the cake.” She started giggling when he glanced at her hand. “Not a real cake.”

Thranduil tried to comprehend and gave up. “An imaginary one?”

“Sure. Alright, so you swept me off my feet now what?” She remembered that he wanted the ceremony to start at sundown and if she had not left they would be married by now. She watched him hoping he was not manipulating her and that Gandalf was right…he truly cared. 

“Something romantic.” Thranduil waved his hand above them. “You study stars in your realm, but as an Elf you can experience them.”

Alyssa leaned her head back on his shoulder and peered up. “So beautiful.” She gazed from one twinkling star to the next. “This why you ripped the top of the tree off. I really didn’t think Elves would damage trees.”

“It is frozen in time, and I will restore it before I unfreeze it so the tree will not feel any pain.”

She lifted her head to look at him. “The trees feel pain?” 

“Everything that lives feels pain, and I still feel yours.”

“What do you mean?” 

Thranduil scrutinized her face. “Being bonded means if I wish then I can sense your emotions and intent of your thoughts. You want to believe me, but my harsh words caused damage.”

“So when you said I could feel you, you meant that I should be able to feel what you are and know if you are being manipulative or not?” 

He nodded. 

“How?”

“Our hearts beat to the same rhythm when we are near. Focus on that.” He took her hand and placed it over his heart. “Feel and listen.”

In the quiet of night, Alyssa’s ears were able to hear the beat of their hearts as she felt the reverberation against her hand. “This isn’t possible. They are beating at the exact same time.”

Her eyes lifted from his chest to his sapphire eyes, and it was as if she fell into them. Beating all around her was a bombardment of his emotions. Anguish at her leaving. Determination to leave his world behind for her. Helplessness at watching her arms around another man. Guilt and shame for not defending her. Anger at himself for how difficult it was to kneel in front of her and humble himself for love. Love. 

Alyssa jerked her hand off of his chest. Everything he had done since he met her was because he loved her. Even when he spoke coldly about her to the other men, it was because it pained him that he loved her and knew he was losing himself to her. She nodded knowing that she wouldn’t have fully believed it unless she had experienced his emotions about it just now. 

“You love me.” She made it a statement.

“Yes.” Thranduil’s troubled eyes watched her. “To the point of insanity it seems.” 

Alyssa started to cry, but it turned into laughter and back to crying again. 

Thranduil feared he had done something wrong again, so he held onto her and let himself experience what she was. Her emotions changed so quickly and intensely that he remained silent deciding that a war was being waged inside her…then he changed his mind knowing instead it was a storm. There weren’t two opposing forces battling, but it was as if a violent tempest wracked her with each gust of wind the force of a new emotion blending with the others raining down to her damaged heart. When the storm finally subsided, all of the pain was washed away leaving unadulterated joy and love. 

Thranduil finally risked speaking. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” She wiped her face and patted her hand over his heart. “I think we will be.” She rested against the warmth of his body as a gentle night breeze floated over her skin. Her eyes went back to the stars. They sat together holding on to one another as they gazed at the magnificence of the twinkling lights above them.

“You said experience stars right?” 

“Yes, you watch the sky till a star catches your attention then focus on it. The light will connect you then you may speak to the star. Not with words, but have one simple thought and give it a moment. You will feel the thought go out then if the star wishes it will return a thought.”

Alyssa grinned shaking her head thinking of everything she had learned in college about stars. “Are you serious?”

“Try it.” Thranduil focused at the sky. “With your new eyes, you can distinguish the different colors and variations of reflected light. I usually chose by the intensity of the light. A radiant sparkle usually catches my attention.”

Alyssa thought of the box of jewels she saw him reach for in The Hobbit. “Yes. You like things that sparkle.” She glanced around till she saw one that was a pale violet. She focused her eyes on it and thought one word over and over  beautiful. A shimmer of light flickered over her eyes then thinned out like a sunbeam. After a few minutes, the light wavered again and she felt a push at her mind. “Oh wow! It talked to me. The star talked to me. No one at NASA would believe this.”

Thranduil grinned watching her. “What did it say?”

“I felt it instead of words, but it felt like the star was saying I’m beautiful too.”

“That is well and true.”

“What did yours say?” Alyssa was practically bounding in his lap. 

Thranduil did not respond.

“What was it?” 

Thranduil stopped grinning. “As you say it is not words, but if I had to put it in your words…I believe it told me to fuck off.”

Alyssa’s hysterical laughter filled the silence. 

Thranduil’s deadpan words didn’t make a dent. “It is not that humorous.”

“Yes it is. Now, what did you say to it?”

“I expressed it was marginally less bright than the last I inspected.” 

“Well, no wonder.” She squinted her eyes at him.

“It was a compliment. The last one was exceedingly bright.” 

“It’s still insulting.” Alyssa reached into his robe, pulled out the silver broach, and pinned it to her shirt. From what he said before, she knew he had spent countless times with the last Elvenqueen in trees watching stars. If she took him at his word concerning everything he said since he arrived, then she had been far worse to him than his cruel words at the meeting. She pressed a hand over the broach knowing she couldn’t possible fathom how hard this had been on him. “I’m sorry for all the misunderstandings and for anything I did that hurt you.”

Thanduil’s eye went wide. “It is I who should apologize to you for all that has transpired. I have been monstrous. I am truly…sorry.” 

“Oh that hurt. I appreciate it.” Alyssa couldn’t help herself because she felt his emotions knowing it was as hard for him to say as it would be for a person to saw off their arm, but she knew he meant it. He was willing to sacrifice his pride for her and that meant more than a fancy coronation and flowers.

“This is romantic and all but seriously I want to go home now.” Alyssa shifted her weight then felt waves of anxiety and dread radiating from Thranduil. “What is it? An Ork army?”

He didn’t speak.

She whispered, “A dragon?” It was the only other thing that she thought could instill such fear in him.

“You still wish to leave me?”

Alyssa stopped glancing from the sky to the ground. “What? No, you idiot. When I said home, I meant our home. It is ours right?” 

“Most definitely.” Thranduil breathed in and let the anxiety leave.

“I swear to god you’re bipolar.”

“No, I prefer women.” With that explanation, he launched them into darkness, kicked off another tree’s trunk, and landed them securely on the ground. 

“Shit! You really need to warn me before you do that.” Alyssa watched him raise a hand toward the tree they had been in moments before. The top of the tree hovered then landed back in place. A blue mist radiated where the two ends met, and Thranduil chanted till the fog dissipated.

“You fixed it.” 

Thranduil nodded and held is hand out to her. 

Alyssa took it. “Why did you say you prefer women?”

“You said I liked two poles, and I prefer just mine. I do not think I would ever like playing with another man’s pole as you call it. You know, laughing at me constantly would damage my vanity if I were a lesser Elf.”

Alyssa was still giggling. “That’s not what that means.”

He pretend to look down his nose at her when she finally stopped chuckling. “Then say what you mean.” 

“I love you.”

Thranduil drew her in close for a soft kiss that lingered between several of their heart beats. “And I you.”

“Then we need to get going before I scandalize you in front of your men.” Alyssa knew he was sensing her desires. 

“To my…our bedchamber then.”

“No.” Alyssa tapped his chest thinking of her drawing of him. “I’m thinking the throne chair. I have to admit I love the way you lounge on your throne. Very sexy.”

“I will clear the chamber, and we will proceed as you wish, my Lady.” 

“And what about the coronation?” Alyssa glanced up at the massive elk that walked out into the clearing. 

“Next week or next month I care not. I only know for a time I will want you all to myself.” They walked hand in hand as Thranduil continued. “Have you ever ridden astride an elk?”

“No never.”

“Then you are in for a treat.” He grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up onto the large animal. He quickly joined her. Alyssa leaned back against his chest thankful that the drama was finally over, and he was hers. 

Thranduil tipped his head down and kissed the top of her head. He breathed in the scent of her hair knowing that no force in existence would ever separate them again. For the first time in thousands of years, he was content and filled with love. 

They ventured into the forest joining the others to journey back to Mirkwood…their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you like the fic. Thanks!


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to continue with one more chapter that leads into an Elrond story that will have glimpses of Thranduil/Alyssa and Legolas/Tauriel in it. Apparently, I am concerned that everyone end up happy and tormented by the end of this fic. Yes, I seem to have left Legolas out…bad me. Ok, lets fix that. heheheee

Alyssa leaned back against Thranduil as he steered his elk around some boulders. She had her earbuds back in and was listening to the violinist Lindsey Stirling’s version of We Found Love. She tapped the screen of her phone and brought up where she saved the music video. Drums sounded then the uplifting violin filled her ears. She didn’t notice she giggled when the tribe started chanting and a woman’s lovely voice sung about finding love, shining light, and feeling a heartbeat. 

Alyssa thought about how she was bonded to Thranduil causing their hearts to beat as one. Her hand lifted to her chest feeling the steady beat knowing his echoed the same rhythm. She smiled peering out into the trees knowing that most of the horror that had happened to her over the last few days had been nothing more than misunderstandings. She closed her eyes feeling the sway of the animal under her and Thranduil’s arm that wrapped around her waist knowing that it had all been worth it. 

And now, they would never be together forever, and knowing that Elves lived thousands of years warmed her heart. She knew it would probably take that long for her to understand everything he said without misunderstanding him; they were from two different worlds after all. She knew it was going to take work because he was the most complicated man she had ever known. Yes, she decided all over again with renewed vigor…he was worth it.

She whispered knowing he could hear and feel the words. “I love you.”

Thranduil bent over letting his lips trace over the point of her ear as he felt the truth in her words radiating from her heart. “And I you.”

She opened her eyes and turned her head letting her lips brush against his knowing he would take the offering. His arm tightened around her as he took control of the kiss deepening it farther than her gentle touches. 

Thranduil forced himself to pull back knowing he could not let things go too far because half his army that surrounded them would start watching. He had no intention of putting his love’s passion on display for the masses. She was his and his alone. He focused on her seeing that mirth danced in her eyes. 

“What are you listening to?” His Elven hearing allowed him to hear the song, but he wished to watch her speak about what was making her so happy. 

Alyssa offered him an earbud. “Here. Watch the vid with me. They cut out all the sad parts, so it leaves you feeling like flying. There’s something about this vid that makes me feel like all is right with the world and everything’s going to be OK.”

Thranduil smiled back knowing he would do anything required to keep the grin on her face. “And it shall.” 

“Look at the kids smiling. The tribe never heard a violin till she played for them. Aren’t they adorable? It must be like magic to them.” When the video ended, she played it again. Thranduil was grinned and tipped his shoulders to the beat of the music when the people in the video started dancing.

…

Legolas got Tauriel’s attention. “Look at him.”

Tauriel watched Thranduil smiling and Alyssa practically dancing to the music as she sat in his lap. There was nothing sexual to it, just infectious joy. “I have never seen him like that. He does not even look like himself. He is truly…happy. It is as if he is enchanted by magic. Well, I guess he is. When it comes to him, she is magic.”

Legolas lowered his eyes. “I am seeing old memories come to life.”

Tauriel moved her mount closer so she could speak quieter. “When your mother was alive?”

“Yes.” Legolas urged his horse forward. Thranduil’s happiness only prompted Legolas to feel the lack of it in his own life. It was what he hoped for himself and Tauriel, but her coldness of recent only reinforced the feeling that it would never be. 

Tauriel caught the pain in his eyes and followed him. “Legolas?”

“Do not speak to me. I saw you talking with him. He looked upon you the way my father watches his new Elvenqueen.” 

Tauriel had to work at keeping up with him. They navigated around trees moving away from the group until they came to a high cliff. 

Legolas pulled his horse up short. He heard her horse was in a dead run trying to catch up. “Stop!”

Tauriel’s horse broke through the trees mere inches from the edge, but she managed to guide her horse to the side. Her eyes darted over the edge knowing she could have fallen to her death. 

Legolas lunged off his horse and grabbed her reins. “Calm.” He chanted Elven words of comfort till her mount stilled. 

Tauriel stayed where she was and internally cursed herself for her folly. She was so intent on getting to him that she missed that the terrain changed. It was a novice mistake, and she knew that he was well aware of it. 

They watched one another for a time.

Tauriel thought over Legolas’ words from earlier. “Of whom were you speaking?” 

Legolas broke eye contact and stroked his horse’s mane. “You know. Do not make me speak his name.”

Tauriel nodded. 

“Why?”

Tauriel tipped her head.

Legolas explained. “Why did you go to him in the dungeon and then you healed him leaving me to fight alone?” 

Tauriel remembered Kili dying. “He needed me more than you did. He was dying.”

“Could I not have died at the hand of the Orcs that you wished me to kill? I was there only for you.”

“No. You were there because it was the right thing to do.” Tauriel climbed off and stood next to him. 

“No. I was there for you. I defied my king to be with you then you left me for him.” 

Tauriel did not have any words for him. She had no desire to explain that she had already spoken to his father about them and that he had told her not to give him hope because there was none. 

Legolas watched her closely knowing she was holding something back, but he miscalculated what it was. “What is it about him that is so much more important to you than me? Why have you turned away from me?”

Tauriel knew that Alyssa had helped Thranduil and Legolas move past the barrier that had been between them since the death of the last Elvenqueen. She had no intention of being the reason why another was put in place. Instead, she thought about how there was no way that Thranduil would allow her to be bonded to his son, so she made a decision and knew it would further break her own heart. 

Tauriel turned from Legolas before speaking. “He watches me as if I am the stars in the heavens.” She took a deep breath and thought about Kili. “When I went to him as he died, he believed me a dream.” She turned back letting herself feel the way she did as Kili’s hand lifted and interlaced with hers. She rubbed the ends of her fingers where his skin touched. 

Legolas stepped back from her. “Tell my father I am traveling to Rivendell. I have not the strength to endure such happiness. I do not know when I will return or if I shall. The Undying Lands have started to call to me...farewell.” 

Tauriel watched his back as he walked away from her. She caught a glimpse of his beautiful face contorted. This was not what she expected. She thought he would return home with his father allowing them to further mend, and that he would find comfort in another more suited to be his match. Now she knew she was driving him away and this could be their last conversation. He was leaving alone and in torment. 

“Stay.” Tauriel whispered into the breeze hoping the word was loud enough for him to hear and fearing it at the same time. 

Legolas froze. “Why?” 

Tauriel shook her head not knowing how much to say. “I believe he is nothing more than a cure for the wound that leaving you has left in my heart. It would not be fair to him for me to return his affection as it is not fair to you for me to speak of my heart’s desire for you.”

Legolas turned seeing he was not the only one trapped in despair. “Why would it not be fair to speak of your feelings for me?”

Tauriel thought of the Elvenking’s words. “I should not give you hope where there is none. You and I can never be. You will be king, and I am just a lowly guard. Were it not so, I would pledge myself to you this very moment.”

Legolas moved to her, embracing her in the warmth of his arms. “I care not about your station.”

Tauriel chose her words with care. “There are others that would.”

Legolas took in a deep breath welcoming the scent of Crimson Clover that always floated off of her hair. “Since when have I chosen my father over you?” 

A smile threatened to form, “I know not.” 

The breeze around them stilled as if the forest was waiting for them to speak of the bond that was forming between them. All sound ceased, but for the sound of their breaths and beating hearts that slowly matched in unison. 

Legolas drank in the sight of her eyes. “I pledge my life in bond with you my love. A sun will not rise that I do not hold you safe in my heart with love.” 

Tauriel forgot about all consequences seeing that he was on the verge of tears and that he meant every word. “And I pledge myself to you. No other shall ever be to me as you are. Time itself will end before my love for you.” 

Tauriel finally allowed herself to fully embrace him as their lips met in a delicate kiss that evolved into an aggressive search for more. 

…

Alyssa was thankful for the break because it gave her a chance to get some bread she kept in her saddle bags. She took a few bites then glanced over seeing that Thranduil was sipping on some wine. She walked her horse over to him. “Think it’s safe for me to drink some?”

Thranduil sat on a log and tipped his head letting his hair spill over his shoulder in the way that he knew she liked. “Probably not.” 

“Fine, be like that.” Alyssa leaned forward bringing their lips together only to steal his wine container. She straitened and stepped back. “More for me.” She giggled at seeing his surprise then wicked smile. 

“My Lady?” 

Alyssa turned to see Denewen. It only took a moment for her to place him. He was the guard who carried her to a bed when the wine then potion had been too much for her. She flexed her arm and glanced at his neck remembering that Thranduil had cut her arm when he swung at his neck. “Yes, I’m sorry. I um don’t remember your name. Dewayne?”

“Denewen my Lady.”

“Yes. I remember now. How’s it going?”

“Well my Lady. Tauriel asked me to find you. She wishes to have a word with you by the lake.”

“OK, I’ll be right back.” Alyssa nodded to Thranduil and before she could turn around he was standing between her and Denewen. “What?”

Thranduil glared at Denewen. “Yes exactly. What right does Tauriel have to ask my Elvenqueen to come to her? She should come to us. Or is that what is going on? Maybe you are the one that wishes to speak with her.”

“Hey. Leave him alone. We just talked about his.” Alyssa moved around him knowing they had been talking about him needing to loosen the reins and not the ones on the elk. “Tauriel is my friend. No, stay out of the way.”

“I will not have you traipsing off at her beckon and with…him. It was not that long ago he was carrying you off to bed, and you professed your love for him!”

Alyssa turned red knowing that every Elf in a mile must have heard that. “It wasn’t like that. I was drunk, and they gave me that potion to stop my heart from exploding because you said you didn’t want me. He was taking me to rest, and I thought he was you.”

“Yes, and now you drank some more wine and now you are leaving with him. And you also thought Legolas was me when…”

Alyssa put her hand over his mouth. “Just shut up. That’s enough. We’re out here with thousands of Elves, I haven’t had any decent sleep in forever, and you’re acting like a jealous teenager. On top of all that, I’m hunger. Very hungry so just stop it. You said I need to keep a guard with me, so he’s a guard. One that risked his life to make sure I was alright, so that seems like a person you should trust. Besides, he was a gentleman and didn’t take liberties even when I was all drunk and giggly.” She removed her hand from his mouth and put it on her hip. 

Thranduil knew what she said made sense. He also remembered last time she felt starved that she commanded him around and told him that it makes her bossy. 

Thranduil stood up, pointed, and barked some orders of his own. “You, go kill something. You, start a fire and cook it. You, find some potatoes and herbs. And you, find more wine.” Thranduil peered down at Alyssa. “You really need to stop laughing at me all the time.”

Alyssa threw her arms around him then grabbed his robe pulling him down for a kiss. “I love you, OK. I’ll be right back.”

…

Denewen stood guard near the edge of the trees as Alyssa walked down the beach to Tauriel. “What’s up?”

Tauriel glanced at the sky.

“I mean. What’s going on?”

“I have a problem, and Galadriel thought you might assist me.” Tauriel glanced at her hands. “I do not know how he is going to react.”

“Who and to what?”

Tauriel whispered. “I’m afraid Thranduil is going to kill Legolas and I.”

“Oh, don’t be silly. He would never kill his son. He didn’t even when he was half crazy, and he looks at you like a daughter.” 

Tauriel shifted her stance. “He does not want me as a daughter. That is the problem. Legolas and I are bonded.”

“What?” Alyssa stepped closer not believing what she heard. “Bonded like me and Thrandy are bonded?”

Tauriel nodded. 

“Oh my gawd. Wait. You said that Galadriel said I would help. How?”

“In calming him down maybe.” Tauriel tried to stand still instead of pacing.

“Half the time I piss him off. What does Legolas think?” 

“That we should leave.”

“Leave. Yes, he will be gone for a while anyway because of the Fellow…um maybe this is how it happened all along. Thrandy banishes Legolas so he is free to do things for ummm Elrond. It would make Legolas traipsing all over Middle Earth less conspicuous.” Alyssa realized she was talking out loud. “I don’t think I’m fully Elf yet. The wine is getting to me. It’ll be ok. I’ll talk to him, just stay away for a little.”

…

Alyssa and Denewen returned to the camp to hear Thranduil yelling. 

Alyssa moved around the large tree that was in the way. “Now what?” She stopped at seeing Elrond with his hands on his hips. 

“There you are my Lady. Are you quite alright?” Elrond walked forward.

Thranduil moved between them.

Alyssa slapped him on the shoulder. “Stop doing that.”

Both men’s eyebrows shot up. 

“Yes, I’m fine. Everything’s OK now.” She remembered Tauriel and thought that wasn’t exactly true. She felt Thranduil’s anxiety and knew he felt her last emotion. She tipped her head at Thranduil. “I said cut that out. No feeling my emotions in public.”

Thranduil put his hands behind his back and stared down his nose and everyone. 

Alyssa shook her head wondering how she was ever going to get use to the whole bond thing. “I’m alright.”

Elrond stayed where he was. “I was just checking. You did not arrive with the others, and they said Thranduil came for you. I wanted to make sure with my own eyes that everything was well with you. Not that I would think that Thrandul would take you away against your will.”

“Thank you, and don’t worry. I think we’ve straightened everything out. You’ll probably be coming to a wedding in a month or two.” Alyssa’s mind returned to Tauriel again and thought hopefully it will not be a funeral. 

She knew her emotions of excitement then dread were relayed to Thranduil when he cleared this throat. She ignored him. 

“I would be honored my Lady.” Elrond glanced over his shoulder. “And your human companions are settling in just fine. They stroll around with these little boxes flashing lights at everything. When they flash them at each other they talk of food. It is most peculiar.”

“Cheese. They say cheese?” Alyssa inquired.

Elrond smiled. “Yes.”

“They’re taking pictures. Alright, when they leave if Gandalf finds a way to get them home, take the boxes away from them before you wipe their memories. We don’t want them to come across the photos later and who knows if they have been reported missing or kidnapped. If they were then the police could find a way of getting the pics even if we delete them. Yes, it’s safer to just take the boxes.” 

Elrond lowered his head in a kind of bow for a moment. He did not understand half of what she said other than he needed to keep the boxes. “As you wish my Lady. Before Gandalf left for the great library he said he would not take any action without checking with you first.”

“Perfect. And, I don’t mean to be rude, but I need to talk to Thranduil about something that’s kind of important.”

“Very well, I will take my leave and find something to eat.” Elrond lowered his head and walked away. 

Alyssa turned back to Thranduil noticing for the first time that he stood there without saying a word. “There really is something I need to talk to you about.”

Thranduil peered down seeing her hands folded over her stomach. “Are you?” He placed a hand over hers. 

“What?”

Thranduil glanced to their hands then back up. “With child?”

“Hu?” 

“Do you carry our child inside you?” 

Alyssa rubbed her hands back and forth. “I don’t know. Why would you ask that?”

“Be still.” Thranduil closed his eyes and concentrated. “No it appears not.”

“OK, well there’s plenty of time for that.” 

“Then what did you wish to speak to me concerning.”

Alyssa tried to think up the words to use, and she came up short.

An Elven horseback rider topped the hill and descended to them. He dismounted and kneeled before Thranduil. “My King. There is an envoy that wishes to speak with you.”

Thranduil’s words seeped with disgust. “Are they Dwarves?”

“No my King. They say they are Ainur.” 

Thranduil shook his head. “That is not possible.” He stopped speaking and turned to look at the woman at his side. She came from another realm then transformed from a human to an elven-kind bringing the Elvenking to his knees for the first time in his life as he begged for her hand in marriage. “How many are there?”

“Two. They are riding horses that have wings. They were flying on them then landed before us in a field about three miles to the northeast. They speak of peace, but wear armament.” 

“Strange tidings. Locate Elrond and have him meet us. Find Legolas and Tauriel.” He turned to Alyssa. “You need armor and weapons.”

“I don’t know how to use a sword. A bow, but only a little. I don’t know how to fight.” Alyssa’s heart sped up. 

Thranduil put an arm around her. “I know that my gem, but you can still wear it for appearances.”

“Right. How about a dagger instead of a sword?”

“Very well. I will have a female guard give you her armor, but first you must eat.” Thranduil waved at Denewen who then brought over a plate of venison and potatoes. 

Alyssa put her hand over her face. “That’s gross. What is that?” It smelled the way she would think the carcass of a dead dog smelled like after a few days.

“Deer my Lady. I am told it is seasoned and cooked in the fashion that humans eat it. Medium rare.” Denewen held it closer for her to inspect.

“I’ll pass. That’s as gross as the piss waterfall.” She thought of the conversation she had with Tauriel when her heightened hearing make her think the horse peeing was a waterfall nearby. 

Thranduil blinked and stared at her. 

She reached for the plate. “I’ll just eat the potatoes.” She ate quickly and handed it back. “They killed a deer for me, and it’s going to waste. A pretty deer died for nothing.” 

Thranduil could not stand the sorrow on her face, and he thought of his first Elvenqueen who was upset over the young deer caught in briars. “It will not.” He nodded at Denewen. “Find a few to take it to the human caravans that travel south of here.”

“Yes, my King.” Denewen bowed and left. 

“So what are the Ainur? Gnomes?” Alyssa questioned.

“They are the Holy Ones that existed before the creation of the world.” 

Alyssa listened to the story about a group of them used music to create existence. He spoke of how Orome found Elves and showed them Valinore. After several minutes, Elrond joined the history lesson adding in details about his ancestor Finwe. 

Alyssa waited for the end of the story to speak. “So do we really believe these envoys on Pegasus are gods?” 

Elrond raised an eyebrow then grinned. 

Thranduil shook his head. 

Alyssa took a deep breath feeling constrained by the armor Thranduil helped her put on during his recitation. “It’s going to take me a while to get use to this.”

“After our return, we will have armor made to fit you. This is only temporary.”

“No not this. I mean this.” She waved her hand out and to the side. “It’s like every day something’s happening or someone is about to die. There’s just a lot going on.”

Thranduil clasped his hands. “Things were quite peaceful for hundreds of years before you came along.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Ok other than the giant spiders, necromancer, Dwarves, Orc army, and oh yes the dragon. What was his name Smog…Smaug? I can never say it right.”

Elrond smiled even wider expectant of what would happen next. Thranduil was known for fits of violence whenever dragons were mentioned. He knew Thranduil would not harm Alyssa, so he continued to grin and glanced back and forth between them. 

Thranduil continued to stare at her. He knew he should feel angry at the mention of his greatest foe, but he did not. Strangely, he found himself amused with her. “I love you.”

Alyssa stepped closer to him taking his hand pressing it to her heart. “Love ya too.” Her voice lowered. “Let’s go meet the gods then go home and get naked.”

Elrond had just barely heard her last words and turned to his horse. He was happy for them and for the fact that Mirkwood was no longer in threat of being shaken apart by Thranduil’s bond sickness. By the time he reached his horse, the simile that had covered his entire face was gone. 

He mounted and followed along at a distance. He watched Legolas and Tauriel join the group. Elrond knew without having to concentrate too hard that they were bonded. In times like these, he felt like everyone had someone else to hold onto but him. 

Elrond reminded himself that with relationships came drama and that he preferred peace. He watched the two enamored couples casting looks of love at each other. His brows came together knowing that he would trade some of that peace for someone who would glance at him in such a manner. He knew they would leave together and he would leave…alone. 

Elrond shook his head and tried to focus on feeling happy for them. He peered around at Thranduil’s army seeing that for the first time in ages they appeared content. 

Elrond sat up straighter when he heard Alyssa speak his name. “I apologize. What my Lady?”

“I was asking if you think it’s strange that a human turned Elven-kind is the new queen.”

“Not at all. I am a Lord and only half Elven-kind.” Elrond urged his horse closer to hers. “I have a brother who decided to follow the human path.” He made sure he did not mention his brother had passed away a long time ago.

“Thanks. I guess I’m just worried about how people are going to talk. I’m sure some of them aren’t going to be happy about it.” 

Elrond was back to smiling again. “My Lady, I am sure there is nothing to worry about. In fact, I am positive Thranduil will rid the land of them.”

Alyssa gripped her reins tighter. “And by rid the land you mean…?”

Elrond glanced down at his sword then back.

Alyssa turned to Thranduil. “Would you behead people for talking bad about me?”

Thranduil glanced daggers with his eyes at Elrond. “Thank you, Lord Elrond.”

“Just trying to ease her fears.” 

Alyssa nodded a thank you at Elrond. She had no idea that Thranduil would do something like that. It made her wonder what else she had to learn about him. “I think we should talk about this.”

“Let’s do.” Thranduil glanced again toward Elrond letting him know he was not pleased.

Elrond smiled and listened to Alyssa try to explain why he couldn’t kill people for disliking her, and Thranduil kept announcing he was king and could kill who he liked. Elrond followed the remainder of the conversation believing that Alyssa was a god send. He decided she could not be more perfect for him even if the gods had picked her out. 

Elrond stopped his horse. “What if they really are Ainur?”

Thranduil shook his head. “They are not.”

Alyssa offered. “Yes, what if they are?”

“Both of you sound like Celeborn.” Thranduil watched them seeing their determination. “If they are, then we shall know in a few minutes if we continue. At this rate, the sun will set before we get there. Do you want to meet them in the dark?”

Elrond started forward again. “Very well.”

Alyssa motioned her horse to continue. “I don’t think I like this. And when did the sun come up?”

Thranduil tipped his head. “I told you before that time passes differently for us, and you could always ride with me.”

“I’m not meeting with possible gods riding up on your lap.” Alyssa paused. “OK, that didn’t sound right.”

Thranduil chuckled. “Everything is alright.”

Alyssa relaxed as best she could. “Yes, it is.” 

With that, she rode close to him knowing whatever would come they would be together wrapped in a bond of love…forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now this is the end of this story. I plan to pick up with a new story that has hints of Thrandy/Alyssa but focus more on poor Elrond. He always seems to be the glue that keeps things together, but who is there to take care of him? Hope you enjoyed the fic as much as I enjoyed writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is the back story for my non-canon fic. I was going to jump forward to a romantic interlude then found myself writing the story of his wife and why he is resistant to helping others. Well, I can definitely use that later.


End file.
